You Do Not Have Permission to Beat my Kids
Holy crap! Check this article:
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?s=7448948
Let me quote the punchline:
"Headlee says the school system only allows paddling for male students with permission from their guardians. Under state law, disciplinary actions like paddling must be done with another staff member in the room. Paddling must also be used humanely and in an objective manner. Tennessee is among 21 states where it's legal to use corporal punishment in the classroom. However, it's a district by district decision whether to implement it."
I don't even know where to begin. Perhaps with #1:
#1 - Personal bias, sure to piss of many defensive parents both at my judginess and naivete (my kid is only 5 weeks), it doesn't make sense to hit kids. As a society, we've legally adopted the stance that you can't assault people (or animals). We in turn teach our kids not to hit. And yet we hit them. Hruh? If kids learn by example, then hitting them teaches that...um... hitting is O.K. Except it's not O.K.
#2 - Related to #1, negative reinforcement is proven to be waaaaay less effective a learning mechanism than positive reinforcement. Remember Pavlov's dogs? Keeping with dogs for a moment, when you want to train them to sit, what do you do? Do you reward them with a treat when they sit correctly? Or do you beat them until they sit? If we've got it figured out with dogs, why would you treat a child worse?
#3 - Even if you do endorse legally smacking your kids around, do it yourself. The schools are here to teach your children, not do your 'parenting' for you.
#4 - As long as we're beating kids, why only boys? Hell, if it's good enough for boys, why not beat the naughty girls as well? Just get a female 'teacher' to do it. Who would have expected sexism in this quarter - selective beatings. Outrageous!
All right... before I go off the deep end and piss off everyone I know (pretty much all of whom spank their kids) and really express what I think of that kind of parenting, let me finish off this post with the list of states that do and do not allow parental-approved corporal punishment at school. I've taken the liberty of highlighting some shockers.
Legal: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming
Illegal: Alaska, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin
Just when I was getting over some bias.... :)
http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?s=7448948
Let me quote the punchline:
"Headlee says the school system only allows paddling for male students with permission from their guardians. Under state law, disciplinary actions like paddling must be done with another staff member in the room. Paddling must also be used humanely and in an objective manner. Tennessee is among 21 states where it's legal to use corporal punishment in the classroom. However, it's a district by district decision whether to implement it."
I don't even know where to begin. Perhaps with #1:
#1 - Personal bias, sure to piss of many defensive parents both at my judginess and naivete (my kid is only 5 weeks), it doesn't make sense to hit kids. As a society, we've legally adopted the stance that you can't assault people (or animals). We in turn teach our kids not to hit. And yet we hit them. Hruh? If kids learn by example, then hitting them teaches that...um... hitting is O.K. Except it's not O.K.
#2 - Related to #1, negative reinforcement is proven to be waaaaay less effective a learning mechanism than positive reinforcement. Remember Pavlov's dogs? Keeping with dogs for a moment, when you want to train them to sit, what do you do? Do you reward them with a treat when they sit correctly? Or do you beat them until they sit? If we've got it figured out with dogs, why would you treat a child worse?
#3 - Even if you do endorse legally smacking your kids around, do it yourself. The schools are here to teach your children, not do your 'parenting' for you.
#4 - As long as we're beating kids, why only boys? Hell, if it's good enough for boys, why not beat the naughty girls as well? Just get a female 'teacher' to do it. Who would have expected sexism in this quarter - selective beatings. Outrageous!
All right... before I go off the deep end and piss off everyone I know (pretty much all of whom spank their kids) and really express what I think of that kind of parenting, let me finish off this post with the list of states that do and do not allow parental-approved corporal punishment at school. I've taken the liberty of highlighting some shockers.
Legal: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming
Illegal: Alaska, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin
Just when I was getting over some bias.... :)
posted by Knoxville Yankee at 8:42 PM - Permanent Link
2 Comments:
Hilarious Wes,
And for once I agree with you. I'm pretty sure that people who beat their kids, especially when they're young (the kids I mean) do it out of ignorance and frustration. I wish there was some way to make people take a class and pass a test before they were allowed to reproduce. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be around if that were the case!
You are also under the assumption that kids can grow up without the desire to do wrong unless first acted upon wrongly... that is really another issue with what you believe about human nature
If you leave your kid at a public school, under the authority of teachers and the like, then don't expect to have much power while they are there... after all you are sort of dumping their education in the hands of people you probably don't even know.
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