







Welcome to Project NoSpank, the official website of Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE). Here you’ll find a wealth of information concerning the corporal punishment of children in the U.S. and around the world. Project Nospank was created by PTAVE’s founder and executive director, Jordan Riak, in keeping with the group's mission to educate the public about the vast harm caused by this age-old practice of inflicting pain on children in the name of discipline--and to spur reform for their protection. The articles and videos compiled here were posted mainly between 1996 and 2013 and draw from centuries of research, journalism, and advocacy. To proceed to Project NoSpank's front page, click here. If at any point you are unable to access this website at its current address (www.nospank.net) a complete archive is also available through the Wayback Machine at www.web.archive.org/web/20170928140212/http://nospank.net/www.nospank.net. Please bookmark both of these URL's for future reference. For other technical issues, contact Tom Johnson at twcj2008@gmail.com. Please note that the postal addresses, phone numbers, and other contact information found throughout this website, as well as its PayPal donation portals, are no longer serviceable.



Dear Mitch,

I am so sorry about the loss of Jordan. I did not know he was ill. I wish I could attend the memorial service but please pass my condolences to Anne Riak, Jordan's wife and also his family members.

He left such a legacy and has touched so many lives. I don't know where to start . . . So sad, but will be ever so grateful that I met Jordan, first online, then in person. I am grateful for his tireless work and his words of advice and his eloquent way with words. I hope everyone that he touched can find a way to continue the message . . . from the prisoners who were about to be released to the school boards and legislators as well as the many parents and teachers who were real friends and supporters.

Thanks for all your help.

In sympathy,

Isabelle Allgood-Neal





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Dear American friends,

With Alice Miller, Jordan Riak has been for me a model. I have often been on his website Nospank and when he published the translation of my book Spanking, I felt very happy and proud. He remains for me a beautiful person, always alive by his influence, and thanks to him the world will be less violent.

Olivier Maurel

President of the Observatoire de la violence éducative ordinaire (France)





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Dear Mitch

Sad, sad day, for many of us, around the world.

Jordan’s tenacity and fire were unforgettable, he was destined to leave a big legacy.

I cherish my memories of discovering his tremendous nospank project, the comfort and courage it gave me in my work and hope for the future, and the powerful ways this hive of information wisdom and activism fed the work that I do.

I am not sure what my book would have been without Jordan’s work. It is sobering to reflect on this, as frankly I don’t know if my book would have touched so many or resonated so solidly were it not for the service that Jordan’s project provided.

It was a special moment, to meet and dine with Jordan at your apartment in SF. All the more precious now that I see it will not be repeated. Not every day do we encounter someone like Jordan.

I know you and he are good friends and comrades, and I am sorry for your loss, Mitch.

I think Jordan changed the rotation of the earth in his small and big way, he changed it enough that it will not go back to how it was prior.

I sure intend to keep walking and to remember him as I do; to feel him walking alongside us in our revolutionary and child advocating work.

Adios, Jordan, I hope you are enjoying your freedom from a troubled and troubling body, in the knowledge that you used it so very very well.

Robin

______________________

Robin Grille, clinical psychologist in Sydney, Australia

Author of Parenting for a Peaceful World and Heart-to-Heart Parenting

Blog: Heart to Heart Parenting

Web: www.our-emotional-health.com





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Jordan was a legend when I began my work on physical punishment of children. We eventually met, by phone. During that warm and collegial conversation, I felt what so many others already knew about Jordan—his personable, principled and passionate commitment to the protection and well-being of children

I want to offer my condolences on Jordan’s loss to his family and to all who depended on his clear, considered and constant voice that has made a difference in the lives of so many children.

Sincerely,

Ron Ensom

______________________

Ron Ensom, MSW, RSW

Ensom & Associates

Ottawa





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Jordan was a pioneer in ending school corporal punishment, one of the first in our country to tackle the issue head-on, just as he had done in Australia before moving to California. He was a passionate advocate who called me at all times of day or evening, sometimes forgetting that I was in the eastern time zone. Well, on second thought, maybe he hadn’t forgotten! But what was on his mind was just very important and he wanted to reach me when he had a question or another brilliant thought in mind!

Jordan inspired, he led, he confronted – a real hero to children! I will miss our brainstorming phone calls.

Robert Fathman, Ph.D.

Former president and co-founder

The National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools

Dublin, Ohio







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I am so sorry to hear about Jordan Riak. He is a hero who may never get all the credit he deserves for his courageous accomplishments as he has battled and gained some hard earned ground for children's rights, not always a popular subject. Someone should write a book about him. In my mind he is a legend.

I wish you the best,

David

______________________

David Cooperson, retired social worker

Author of The Holocaust Lesson on Compassionate Parenting and Childhood Corporal Punishment





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Jordan Riak (1935-2016): In Memoriam