Corporal punishment is a form of discipline in which an adult deliberately inflicts pain on children to correct misbehavior (Paintal, 1999). Since the colonial period, corporal punishment has been accepted and practiced in American schools. Although use has steadily declined since the 1970s, the Center for Effective Discipline (2000) estimates that public school officials administer corporal punishment to more than two thousand American schoolchildren every day. This paper examines one principal's use of corporal punishment. The analysis unmasks four forces that legitimate corporal punishment: tradition, law, religion, and hegemonic masculinity. The conclusion identifies alternatives for just and humane treatment of schoolchildren.