Last week the United States Department of Education issued a "Dear Colleague" letter to provide guidance to elementary and secondary schools, as well as colleges and universities, on their responses to bullying and harassment. The guidance is a good start; however, the real challenge is the broader educational environment we create for our children.
Thanks to a variety media rich efforts, we may be reaching a critical mass of people discussing ways to change the public school system to better prepare young people for life -- growing up, becoming a part of society, working in a highly competitive world, becoming a parent themselves. It finally seems to be a "sexy conversation." All too often, however, the debate surrounding school improvement and education reform fails to address the critical non-academic barriers that interfere with students' ability to learn. We must eliminate the obstacles, such as bullying and corporal punishment, that undermine the ability of students to achieve their full potential.
I applaud the Department's efforts to address educational environment issues through the enforcement of civil rights laws. These laws are not new, but their enforcement by the Department of Education is. This is a good first step, but it is just that: a first step. The guidance needs to be followed by aggressive investigation and vigorous enforcement of the law. We need to do more than talk the talk; we have to walk the walk.
This guidance is long overdue. The recent bullying tragedies that have received a great deal of media attention are not outliers. I can assure you bullying and harassment are far more pervasive than most realize. Research shows that one-third of all students ages 12 to 18 felt that they were being bullied or harassed at school. You might think that intimidation and harassment is just how kids play around, but these behaviors have very real consequences. Medical and developmental studies show that children who have been bullied and harassed suffer a slew of mental and physical ailments: lost self-esteem and confidence, increased anxiety, alienation from their environment, increased absenteeism, lowered aspirations and reduced academic achievement.
Unfortunately, the problem only gets worse -- students have more to fear than abusive classmates. The hostile environments fostered in our schools don't always start with the kids, in fact, in 20 states in this Union it is legal to HIT KIDS as a form of discipline. That is right. It is still legal in America, the only industrialized nation on the planet where it is in fact still legal. It is not legal to hit prisoners, but it is to hit students. With a hand, a paddle or whatever. Serving "licks" or more technically speaking; Corporal punishment, restraint, seclusion and other forms of discipline inflicted by teachers and administrators have the same effects that bullying and harassment by a student's peers do. It doesn't matter whether it is kids or teachers doing the hitting or intimidating, they all create an environment of fear and hostility that results in damage to our kids and lower academic performance.
Reports conservatively say that school officials hit over 200,000 kids each year, chalked up as justifiable punishment for "acting out." The truth is that these beatings are not only wrong, but they're ineffective. And that is "the rub"... or "the KA-POW!", because here too, research studies show that corporal punishment leads to higher rates of absenteeism and lower academic achievement -- talk about counter productive?!?! And, like bullying and harassment, those who are corporally punished are disproportionately minorities or children who have disabilities.
These problems actually feed off each other. The research shows that corporal punishment leads to increased aggression, including bullying. When kids start acting out and becoming more aggressive to other kids we rightly take action -- however, in far too many cases that response is to inflict still more corporal punishment. This vicious cycle doesn't surprise me -- and it shouldn't surprise you either. When we hit our kids, we teach them that violence is an acceptable tool for dealing with their problems. We legitimize violence, and they in turn, inflict it on one another.
We must create school environments of respect and learning, not fear and intimidation. Instead of getting caught up in the typical school reform "mumbo-jumbo," let us start with the basics. How about a NON-HOSTILE learning environment for FOR ALL AMERICAN KIDS?
The truth is, no matter who is doing it, hitting doesn't teach anyone.
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Joanne Bamberger: Corporal Punishment In Public Schools -- There's An App For That
My apologies, not enough sleep these days.
I am grateful. Special Thanks to Marc Echo...
article below, written this morning,
http://stopschoolpaddling.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-am-grateful-special-thanks-to-marc.html
Questions sent to district by parent.
http://stopschoolpaddling.blogspot.com/2010/11/i-received-copy-of-leslie-elementary.html
Kids speak out!
http://stopschoolpaddling.blogspot.com/2010/11/gotta-get-these-kids-to-rallyaustin.html
A Mississippi Murrah High School basketball coach is being investigated after parents witnessed him whip his players with a weightlifting belt in practice. His prepared statement read in church states in part, "Following the recent developments pertaining to allegations, I paddled my students; "I took it upon myself to save these young men from the destruction of self and what society has accepted and become silent to the issues our students are facing on a daily basis." Parents hoped he would have addressed the parents and students at Murrah high school before the congregation at his church.
Paddling done to a non-consenting adult is sexual assault. Search Atlanta Reverend Eddie Long and Disbarred Judge Herman Thomas for incidents where unmarried mothers asked these men of power to "paddle" their sons, then these trusted men went on to sexually assault the young men.
A Tate County high school student filed a Federal lawsuit on 2/22/2010 to ban school paddling in Miss., claiming the punishment is unfairly applied based on gender/race also seeking a Declaration that Corporal Punishment on Students is Unconstitutional!
"Nearly 60,000 spankings in Miss. schools last year"; "Ouch! For the second time in a month, a school district in Leflore County, Miss. was hit with a $500,000 (each) lawsuit for paddling injuries.
Urge U.S. Congress to enact HR 5628 "Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools Act".
First the bullying. All the while being advised by adults in authority to talk it out (the bullies didn't listen, or twisted my words until I 'offended' them and 'deserved' my beating,) turn the other cheek (it only encouraged more bullying,) and letting adults intervene and set things right ('deus ex machina' only works in greek plays and bad movie plots -- I waited and waited for adults to intervene in events that happened in some cases right in front of them.
Then the corporal punishment. lacking any other viable, effective options (the ones the adults in authority offered me were a joke (see above,)) I fought back. And got sent to the principal's office where he used a blue ping-pong paddle to give me a spanking, while the instigtors were given a stern talking to and sent back to class.
I endured at least a dozen spankings, each immediately after a fight instigated by the bullies. I learned that, win or lose the fight (and I won two-thirds of them,) I would be held responsible and punished.
When one sees how badly an out-of-touch authority figure can screw up the analysis of a situation, it kind of becomes your main take away from school... that authority figures are the real criminals in life. Criminally stupid in some cases, criminally corrupt in others. And the ones that the clueless authoritarians favor often go on to grasp the reigns of clueless authoritarian power when they grow up.
Bullying should never be tolerated but instead it is institutionalized.
A favorite stupid-human trick......