Arkansas student describes being hit on the thighs as punishment for participating in national walkout day

After their story went viral, Arkansas high school senior Wylie Greer described what it was like to receive corporal punishment for taking part in the national walkout day protests against school gun violence.

In a statement sent to Raw Story, Greer said they received the punishment, which consisted of a "swat" on the thighs, in the presence of Greenbrier High School's assistant principle. The school's dean administered.

"The punishment was not dealt with malice or cruelty," Greer wrote. "I have the utmost respect for all the adults involved. They were merely doing their job as the school board and school policy dictated."

"The ‘swats’ were not painful or injuring," the student wrote of the punishment they chose over in-school suspension. "It was nothing more than a temporary sting on my thighs."

"The dean-of students did stress however that not all punishments like this ended this way," he continued.

Per school policy, the teen's mother, writer Jerusalem Greer, had to approve of the punishment. On Wednesday, Greer said on Twitter that she and the parents of the other two students punished for taking part in the protest approved of their children's difficult choice.

"I believe that corporal punishment has no place in schools, even if it wasn’t painful to me," the teen wrote. "The idea that violence should be used against someone who was protesting violence as a means to discipline them is appalling."

"I hope that this is changed," they continued, "in Greenbrier, and across the country."