Ban on corporal punishment in Texas schools faces House hearing

[plumbob]

http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/03/16/2117546/ban-on-corporal-punishment-in.html

AUSTIN — A House committee heard pleas Tuesday to ban corporal punishment in Texas schools, with critics denouncing the disciplinary tool as a legalized form of child abuse that leaves lasting emotional scars.

Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, who spent nearly four decades in the Houston system school system, is pushing legislation that would ban paddling in schools. One of Allen's leading allies is Rep. Barbara Nash, a freshman Republican lawmaker from Arlington and a former member of the Arlington school board.

"There's enough violence in the world without it coming into your schools," Nash said.



The other reason to oppose it is that it doesn't work. Give any high schooler a choice of "licks" or after-school detention, they will take licks in a moment.

Heck, the football boys will volunteer for licks just to prove they're tough.

[sonias]

1. Hooray for Representative Alma Allen!

As a former teacher herself, she would know a thing or two about the non-effectiveness of paddling a kid in school.

I whole heartedly agree with Rep. Nash too!

There's enough violence in the world without it coming into your schools

:applause::applause::applause:

Lets make schools more fun and interesting so kids want to learn and come to school. Beating up kids and telling them they're not any good isn't a winning strategy for preventing dropouts!

[The Philosopher]

2. The one time

I was paddled in school, I was in kindergarten and it was for urinating on a tree outside during recess. Actually, it was at the end of recess and I couldn't hold it. I always thought it was a smart decision on my part, considering I could've just wet my pants and shrugged it off as being a little kid. But I got paddled for it. I remember crying afterward, but I don't remember anything negative coming from it.

In fact, my parents had to stop spanking me when I was little because I started laughing and ridiculing them. I didn't find it frightening anymore because there was no pain. I think without the threat of pain, there's no reason for it. And since I thought it was an absurd idea I never felt humiliated by the act.

But I know many are. There are teachers who are bitching that the Unions are hurting the kids, that when the teachers had a sick-in that it hurt the kids, because they weren't in class teaching and the kids weren't in class learning. But they'll support paddling. It's like there's a whole ideology of "sucking it up" and ignoring your inner-life. It's almost a religion. A trauma of any kind can get in the way of kid's learning. And considering there's better ways of handling discipline (or even preventing the problems), there's no reason AT ALL to allow for physical punishment.

[sonias]

3. I remember being paddled in school too

For talking during lunch. Oh the horror! I wasn't very happy about the incident at all. Made me very angry about the stupidity of the punishment relative to the "crime".

The problem with this kind of punishment, as well as expulsion from school is that it is also doled out very unevenly. Lots of racial profiling and stereotyping of kids that are considered trouble makers. No warnings, no interventions just paddled them or kick them out.

Dallas Morning News 4/14/10
School expulsions hit minorities, special ed students hardest

A new report Wednesday showed that minority and special education students are more likely to be expelled from Texas schools than other students. The report from Texas Appleseed, a public interest law center, found that 8,202 students were expelled from regular schools in 2008-09, with most sent to Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Programs. The Dallas school district - the second largest in the state - expelled the largest number of any district at 408.

"Being expelled from school increases these students' chances of advancing farther in the school-to-prison pipeline," said Texas Appleseed Legal Director Deborah Fowler. Citing the study's breakdown of students who were expelled, Fowler said her group is "seeing a disturbing trend: minority and special education students are being expelled at rates disproportionate to their representation in Texas' student population." For example, while special education students make up 10 percent of the enrollment in schools, they account for 21 percent of expulsions. Black special education students are three times more likely to be expelled that other students.