http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/16/us/georgia-school-paddle-video/index.html
I had absolutely no idea that it was still legal to hit kids in any state. 
A number of years ago I had lunch with my 5th grade teacher. I was 52, he was 71. I have always hugely admired him, and he was definitely a part of any success Iāve had.
We finally got around to talking about the one time he paddled me, for teasing a boy in our class who was a slow learner. He remembered it well. He said the one thing he regretted about his long career in education was hitting students in those early years. (After all that time the trauma lingered for both of us.)
I deserved punishment, but not that punishment.
Although I was never paddled/spanked, in my Catholic grade school, I saw plenty of them doled out to boys - I donāt think girls were ever paddled. The thing that got me, was the absolute assuredness that they would not only be hurt, but would be shamed - paddlings always took place in front of the class. And as far as I can remember, were always doled out by the P. E. teachers.
Why does it not surprise me that almost every state in the south is on that list?
Just a day in the life of another backward state.
I donāt care what the circumstances were. Itās child abuse and should be illegal.
I remember when a girl and a boy were paddled in my class in NY before they outlawed it. The PE teacher wanted total silence while he demonstrated something. The boy whispered something to the girl and they were both taken away and hit. They came back, silent, but with tears on their faces. It was all about the PE teacherās anger. He was angry and looking for an excuse to hit someone.
I think we were in 2nd grade.
Hitting was a major ānoā in my family. My parents werenāt hit either. My dadās dad was paddled and humiliated at his Catholic school and developed a strong no hitting policy when it came to his kids (a rarity in his time and place). My momās dad was pretty severely abused by his mom and step-dad and also never raised a hand to his kids. So as far as I know, none of my cousins on either side of the family were ever hit as kids. I certainly wasnāt.
The nuns at my Catholic school growing up absolutely wouldāve hit us if they could.
I just canāt believe itās still legal after decades of research showing that hitting doesnāt work.
Iām trying to understand why the mom was there videoing the whole thing. There is not really enough explanation of the whole scenario and what led up to it.
She had to give her permission so maybe that is why she was there.
I donāt care on but what the circumstances were that led up to this. It shouldnāt be allowed, period. Even with parental consent. Itās barbaric and child abuse.
While the Catholic elementary schools I attended no longer practiced corporal punishment by the time I was a student in the '80s in NYC, several older neighbors who attended just 10-20 years before mentioned how they used to have their knuckles or palms hit with rulers for the most minor of infractions and their parents confirmed it.
While there were no hitting/padding, there were other corporal type punishments I saw given to classmates such as students who uttered profanity/ācurse wordsā* having their mouths washed out with soap by some teachers.
Some other HS/college classmates who attended Catholic elementary schools or public schools in certain regions of the country recounted seeing or having been subjected to being hit on a regular basis.
- Words like "buster" were considered "curse words" in the Catholic Schools I attended.
However, the report in OP stated that the parent was threatened with her son being suspended and her being jailed for her sonās truancy if she didnāt give her āpermissionā for her sonās corporal punishment.
Doesnāt sound like that permission was freely given.
Well, he did spit at another kid.
I donāt care what he did. That was wrong. I canāt even explain how angry this makes me.
There was a recent case here where a teacher was recorded slapping a high school student and she was fired. Why is paddling a six year old allowed?
Heās 5! Did none of us do stupid things when we were 5?
Teaching him that the way to react is with violence isnāt helpful when heās already got some behavioral problems.
^^^^^^^^^^^ 1000 likes!
Kids imitate adults. Paddling teaches that hitting is the correct response when someone misbehaves. It is very unproductive modeling. We donāt condone beating adults when they misbehave. I believe in treating children as we would like to be treated ourselves in similar circumstances. fwiw
I also donāt think scaring kids into behaving is the best strategy, though sometimes it is the best we can do in certain circumstances.
There are so many effective ways of punishing a child that do not include hitting.
When my son was 6 the bit a couple of kids in moments of frustration. After the second biting incident, his teacher called me, saying this behavior isnāt acceptable. Her solution was to ground him from a day-long trip to the zoo. Instead, he would spend a day with kindergartners. She was sort of asking for my permission, but not really; just telling me. Of course, I agreed, because I also felt biting was unacceptable, and thought the punishment was fitting.
The day the class went to the zoo, and my son had to go to kindergarten, was a tough one for him. He cried when I took him to school. He cried when we hung up his coat in his 1st grade cubbie and cried harder when we went to the kindergarten room.
The kindergarten teacher later told me, he cried once insideā¦ before accepting the inevitable. Because he was a strong reader, he quickly settled into the role of the teacherās reading assistant, and actually ended up having a good day.
You know what? He NEVER bit a kid again.
God bless his teacher who knew a thing or two about effective and nonviolent punishment.
We know a lot more about child development and the repercussions of corporeal punishment than we did a couple of generations ago. IMO thereās absolutely no excuse for it.
But this mom films the whole episode (why?) and only considers it abuse afterwards? I donāt believe that, either. More likely, she thinks she can now sue the school or have her moment of fame. And if the child was really sick the way she claims, thereās no way sheād be at risk of the child being suspended or charged with truancy.
If he did miss that much school without an excuse, punishing a kindergartener for the so-called crimes of the mother is just as outrageous.
The mom sounds like a piece of work herselfā(kept her son out of school for 18 days because she was having medical tests???), and her story about why she okayed the paddling sounds unreliable. I feel sorry for the kid who has to deal with both her and the punishment.
I went to elementary school in Massachusetts in the late fifties and early sixties. The threat for misbehavior was a slap on the hand with a rulerābut I donāt think it was ever more than a threat, because I donāt recall it ever happening. However, compared to todayās kids, my classmates were models of decorum, even at age 5. By the time my kids went to school, the classrooms were filled with a lot of spoiled brats whose parents never disciplined them and who were beyond the reach of teachers. Iāve had many conversations with teachers who bemoan the behaviors they have to deal with daily and see it getting worse every year. Okay, Iāve gone off-topic, but while I disagree with the use of corporal punishment, I can understand why some school systems feel itās a necessary option for otherwise incorrigible kids. At least this school requires parental permission.
Well if she truly did feel she was forced to accept the corporal punishment, then perhaps filming it and posting it to expose them was the only way she felt she could get the upper hand.
Just to clarify, Iām pretty sure HE was the one being tested for cancer, not the mom.
As someone who is undergoing a diagnosis process for major conditions, 18 days seems absolutely believable if that is the case. Iām at the doctors right now at least 3 days a week and with specialists, you go with their schedule, not yours.
The strange part of this story to me is not the paddling part, it is the fact that Mom had been jailed for sonās truancy, and she feared going back to jail. She could have withdrawn her consent to have her son paddled, but that would have resulted in sonās suspension from school (this is what she was threatened with), and her son not attending school would have resulted in sending her back to jail for his truancy. That is the part I donāt get: Sending a parent to jail because the kid isnāt going to school. Then who takes care of the kid?