When I was a child I rarely seen behavior in school that required the use of punishment by spanking. Mostly the issues I witnessed could of been cured easily by soap. The few times that my friends endured horrible teasing by peers, the parent would call the school and the teacher or principle would talk to the parent of the child causing the problem. Most of the time it cured the behavior because kids were more afraid of facing their parents consequences then taking a chance on misbehaving again. That was all that was necessary.

Teachers are not babysitters, they are there to teach and taking on more than that is a responsibility they have in their own household, that's how it should remain. The scape goat as you so eliquently speak of Denise are the parents who blame society instead of being a responsible parent and providing consequences for bad behavior. Kids don't need more excuses, they need parents who can be better role models. By making society the enemy all you do is give your child another reason to act out, after all, "the television made them do it", right?