While the much-anticipated film adaptation of Matilda, starring Emma Thompson as Trunchbull, will be sure to delight filmgoers of all ages this holiday season, the unsettling truth is that approximately 70,000 K-12 public school students are subject to corporal punishment annually.

It’s time that our communities and laws take aggressive steps to not just outlaw this practice—but to change the hearts and minds of both teachers and parents by promoting humane and effective practices that lead to long-term, positive changes in behavior.