Jordan Riak

Early life

Riak was born January 11, 1935 in, Dover, New Jersey. He was a native of nearby Morristown.

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. 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, due to his activism.

Moving to California, he incorporated PTAVE there, and with Assemblymen Sam Farr, successfully introduced legislation to end corporal punishment in schools in California in 1987, making it the ninth state to do so.

Riak's ultimate goal was to turn the United States into a spanking-free nation.

Riak worked with David and Blythe Daniel, psychology professors who teach at Los Angeles City College. The Daniels, who advocate children's rights through the We the Children Foundation and through education and workshops, campaigned with Riak for an anti-spanking resolution by the Los Angeles City Council, because "Spanking communicates to everyone that children have no rights, that they don't get the respect that other human beings get, and it's horrible," David Daniel said.

Riak believed that neither the responsible parenting of children or the responsible teaching of children should involve violence.

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

The character William Jordan Walcott in Blake Hutchison's 2016 novel Nobody's Property is named partially in honor of Riak. It is additionally inferred in the novel that the woman Will calls "mom" is ardently opposed to corporal punishment and was photographed with Riak at one point in the 1990s.