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July 23, 2003
Spare the Child
Tonight's 'net crawl led to Project NoSpank and another hair-raising teen gulag story. Lots of files to go through, and all sorts of perspectives on spanking.
Posted by mph at July 23, 2003 08:27 AM
Comments
I found that a few years ago. I was totally appalled by the photographs of those children who were BEATEN by teachers at school. I can't believe that it is still legal in places for teachers to lay a hand on students.
Posted by: Claire at July 23, 2003 04:46 PM
I went to a lot of grade schools between K and 6 (five) in two states. The rural Pennsylvania district I went to from 6th to halway through 8th grade had a corporal punishment policy in place: "Cracks" were fairly commonplace, from the principal all the way down to the busdrivers. My busdriver once pulled the bus over and spanked a kid by the side of the road. A math teacher I had let people sign his paddle once he hit them with it.
There was a real culture built up around it. Not every teacher had his paddle hanging in evidence, but many did. Some drilled holes in theirs "to cut wind resistance."
Looking back, I'm really troubled by the bizarre culture of stoicism it seemed to be teaching. The spankings given in class were never forceful or violent enough to truly hurt, and when given in front a room of ones peers, the only acceptable response was to mask whatever pain one did feel. In some classrooms, the spankings were so frequent (one every several days for minor infractions like talking in class or forgetting homework) and so mild that they became a ritual of violence-as-demonstration-of-dominance.
Outside the classroom and on the athletics teams, the violence reportedly got worse. I never saw it, but I didn't do sports beyond a season of wrestling in junior high there.
Posted by: mph at July 23, 2003 05:08 PM