David,
   "There" is just a grammatical placeholder for an extraposed subject.
"No corporal punishment in schools should be" sounds ungrammatical.
   We tend to use "it" when the sentence is not existential (when there is
more than a be verb in the predicate."
   "It is true that we should have no corporal punishement in schools."
   "It is easy to love you."
   That's a quick explanation. Someone else may have seen it treated
directly or more extensively.

Craig>

An ESL student wrote, "It should be no corporal punishment in schools."
> Would any of you have a simple way of explaining to her why "It" should be
> "There"?
>
> Thanks,
>
> David Kehe
> Bellingham, WA
>
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