Jordan Riak

Jordan Riak (1935 – April 2016) was a teacher and activist against corporal punishment[1] who drafted the 1986 bill which banned corporal punishment from public schools in California.[1]

Early life

Riak was born in 1935 in New Jersey.

Career and activism

Riak began working against corporal punishment when he was residing with his children in Sydney, Australia and he was appalled to find out that corporal punishment was practiced in the Australian school system.[2] Corporal punishment was banned in the public schools of all Australian states except the Northern Territory, and the private schools of all states except South Australia, in part due to his activism.

Riak returned to the United States during the 1980s and drafted the bill which banned corporal punishment in the public schools of the U.S. state of California in 1986.

Riak was the executive director of Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education from 1992 until his death in 2016.

Death

Riak died in April 2016 at the age of 81 in Alamo, California.

Other attributions

Riak is thanked in the Acknowledgments in Blake Hutchison's 2016 novel Nobody's Property, and it is additionally inferred in the book that the character William Jordan Walcott was named partially in honor of Riak by his mother, Dr. Cassandra Walcott, a character in the book who is a major opponent of and activist against corporal punishment.

References

  1. 1 2 Peter Spencer (2008-03-08). "Spank your children and you'll end up in jail". Staten Island Advance. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
  2. ↑ Stephanie Salter (1996-01-14). "The movement to make child abuse official". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-03-18.


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