The Principal And The Paddle

[lovely]

The Principal And The Paddle

By Eric Adelson | NEWSWEEK
Published Apr 25, 2009
From the magazine issue dated May 4, 2009


"Thirty minutes into his first day of school at John C, a father walked into Nixon's office and said, "I want to give you the authority to whip my son's butt." Nixon was surprised, but after he thought it over, he decided to give every parent the same option. The year before he arrived, students made more than 250 visits to the principal's office; order had to be restored. While suspensions take kids out of the classroom for days, paddling could be done in 15 minutes. "What are we here to do? Educate," Nixon says. "This way there's an immediate response, and the child is right back in the room learning." According to school statistics, referrals to the principal's office have dropped 80 percent since 2006. So far this school year, there's been fewer than 50. "I've had parents say 'thank you for doing this'," says fifth-grade teacher Devada Kimsey. "And look at the behavior charts nowâ€â€there's nothing on them."

Full article here: http://www.newsweek.com/id/195119/page/1

Personally, I think this man is using wisdom. I understand the reservations of some, but I believe he is an example of both justice and mercy being applied in this environment, and ultimately he is putting the final word, and the authority, where it should be...in the parents hands.

 

[Caroline H]

I agree wholeheartedly. :yes In my opinion there is nothing wrong with spanking appropriately, but there is damage done when no discipline is applied.

 

[Jon-Marc]

There can also be damage done if the "spanking" turns into "beating" as with my dad. He destroyed my self esteem and made me terrified of him. If parents were doing their job (disciplining with love), the teachers wouldn't have to do it for them. The teachers are there to teach and shouldn't have to stop to spank an unruly child.

Children and teens these days have no respect for anyone and no fear of discipline, because (1) Parents are shirking their duties as parents. (2) Laws are being made to take away parents' rights to discipline their children.

 

[LostSoul]

No doubt spankings can get out of hand if a parent allows their anger or disappointment to fester up too much while in the act of taking disciplinary action. Which is why I admit, if I am to practice such with my son, that I do it the way my mother's parents did.

Whenever one of her parents had to come down on them and give them a spanking, they had a designated room that was down the hall in which would require a little bit of a walk. The walk in itself helped mellow and challow some of the anger felt on her father's part a lot during her youth. Though it in no way made the idea of being disciplined any less dreaded, it greatly lowered the risk of tempers flaring and the posibility of abuse.

Not to say there are not people out there with anger or agression issues. Discipline is truly something important on both ends. For what better example is a child supposed to have than his/her parent?

I apologize if any offense was caused. None was meant.

May God Bless You

Danielle

 

[Lewis]

I remember those days, I had my fair share of spankings in school.

 

[JoJo]

Lewis, I'm shocked!

 

[Innkeeper-Ministry]

:bigfrown Not the teachers job to spank my child - it's MINE! I will tell you this folks I was not in fear of my teacher (except when my grandmother was my teacher YIKES) I feared my teacher saying to me if you don't listen and do as told I will tell your parents. I still rebelled a bit but I sure hurt a bit too. I knew there was a price to pay for my rebellion. I believe there is a responsibility to discipline children at school Yes and amen - but as for spanking - NO - that is my job! Here is the real problem folks - MOST parents today are in fear of their children. They are in fear to disciplining them in any way shape or form. This is my beef. Of course the spanking helped the problem go smaller but again it is not the school that should be teaching our kids - it is the parents. AMEN?



Jeff's Amen corner - :amen :amen :amen :amen

 

[Lewis]

Lewis, I'm shocked!

Yes Jo Jo, i was always doing something, always.

 

[Nick]

:bigfrown Not the teachers job to spank my child - it's MINE! I will tell you this folks I was not in fear of my teacher (except when my grandmother was my teacher YIKES) I feared my teacher saying to me if you don't listen and do as told I will tell your parents. I still rebelled a bit but I sure hurt a bit too. I knew there was a price to pay for my rebellion. I believe there is a responsibility to discipline children at school Yes and amen - but as for spanking - NO - that is my job! Here is the real problem folks - MOST parents today are in fear of their children. They are in fear to disciplining them in any way shape or form. This is my beef. Of course the spanking helped the problem go smaller but again it is not the school that should be teaching our kids - it is the parents. AMEN?



Jeff's Amen corner - :amen :amen :amen :amen

Nick's Amen corner - :amen :amen :amen :amen

There can also be damage done if the "spanking" turns into "beating" as with my dad. He destroyed my self esteem and made me terrified of him. If parents were doing their job (disciplining with love), the teachers wouldn't have to do it for them. The teachers are there to teach and shouldn't have to stop to spank an unruly child.

Children and teens these days have no respect for anyone and no fear of discipline, because (1) Parents are shirking their duties as parents. (2) Laws are being made to take away parents' rights to discipline their children.

I'll agree with the first paragraph, the teacher's job is to teach, and if that means discipline, then so be it. But it's the parents' job to teach the children how to behave, as parents are a child's main role model.

I think what you are saying in the second paragraph is a bit stereotypical and a bit unfair to my generation. Of course it is the case with some people, and this is the case with all generations. And I'll be wiling to bet that our generation is more rebellious than the last, but to say that children and teens these days have no respect for anyone and no fear of discipline infers that you are talking about at least a great majority - which I belive is simply not the case. Not in my part of the world, anyway.

 

[Lewis]

In the 1800's the 1920's 30's 40's 50's 60's and the first couple years of the 70's that was done here in this country and was expected. It takes a village to raise a child, was the attitude back then. And if you were raised in the years that I was, you would have had your tale kicked by your parents and teachers, or principles, and Catholic nuns, were notorious for it. They would kick your tale at the drop of a dime. I was born in 1955. I was hit on my bottom put in a dark coat room, had to stand in a corner paddled on the hand by a ruler. One time in junior high a teacher went to far, and parents and grand pop went to the school. And in elementary school we had a gay music teacher who was in his 60's and we did not know what gay was, but if you did something wrong he would grab the boys private parts and feel them, that was like around 1963 and 1964, I can still see his face. And then when we got to junior high, we thought we were rid of him, and there he was again teaching 2 days a week. But i never had him again.

 

[Kelli]

There can also be damage done if the "spanking" turns into "beating" as with my dad. He destroyed my self esteem and made me terrified of him. If parents were doing their job (disciplining with love), the teachers wouldn't have to do it for them. The teachers are there to teach and shouldn't have to stop to spank an unruly child.

John Marc, this is so true. When my kids were little, I read a book, and I can't remember who the author was, but he said every time he had to spank his kids, they knew their father hated doing it. He would cry with them. Then after the spanking he would always hold them and they would cry together. That impressed me so much. When I was growing up the philosophy was, after you spank don't show love, because your rewarding bad behavior. Love should never be a reward. I used the same philosophy on my kids, no matter how much trouble they are in, they know they are loved. I thank Jesus he brought this book to me because I never had to spank my kids more than a couple of times, and they would reach out to be hugged right after.

I just don't know if a teacher could do that. I did make sure I never disrespected a teacher (when they were little,) there are times now I question some of the things they do.

 

[paisley]

I have mixed feelings on the subject simply because I grew up in a school where corporal punishment was used K-12 so I`ve seen the good and bad of it. The good is we had basically no discipline problems and students graduated from the school with respect for authority. The school still uses corporal punishment and there are still no major discipline problems. There is no need for security guards or metal detectors in this school. And by JHS and HS there were almost no paddlings given because kids learned how to behave in elementary school. But I also have to say the school was not alone in its discipline. Most parents told their kids if they got in trouble at school, they`d get another spanking when they got home so the schools had the parents` support. Without the parents support, I`m not so sure how effective corporal punishment would be. So that is the good side of it. It just quickly and easily cuts out a whole mess of problems and keeps order in the class and society.
The bad of it though is ocassionally a teacher can use too much force or take out their frustration on a kid when they are having a bad day. I`ve also seen disadvantaged kids getting paddlings for things other kids would never get a paddling for. I also know of a teacher that uses paddling to keep her students up to the standards of "no child left behind". I think all these things are wrong.
However, when I compare schools that have no paddling but all sorts of disrespect or violence problems with schools that paddle but have almost no problems, paddling doesn`t seem so bad. I think the key is parents just have to stay involved with their children and school to make sure checks and balances are kept so students and teachers don`t cross lines.

 

[Lewis]

The things is the Bible tells you to use corporal punishment, on your kids, and it is mostly in the book of Proverbs, ok lets try this below.

Spanking in the Bible:

The phrase "spare the rod and spoil the child" is often incorrectly attributed to the Christian Bible. It does not appear there. It was first written in a poem by Samuel Butler in 1664. 1

Corporal punishment is strongly recommended in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). Most of the biblical quotations advocating corporal punishment of children appear in the book of Proverbs. Christians interpret these passages in different ways:
bullet Religious conservatives generally believe that the book of Proverbs was assembled by King Solomon, circa 1000 BCE. He brought together a group of sayings which were already current in his time; some may have been his own thoughts; others may have been first written down centuries earlier. 2 The passages which deal with spanking presumably reflect his parenting beliefs with respect to his son, Rehoboam.
bullet Religious liberals generally believe that Solomon first introduced "ancient oriental 'wisdom' to Israel and it later became customary to attribute all books belonging to this particular literary genre to him. The actual authors of Proverbs were the successive generations of wisdom teachers (or 'wise men') who had charge of the moral and practical training of young men of the court and upper classes...." King Hezekiah is mentioned in Proverbs 25:1. Thus, Proverbs in its current form, cannot date from earlier than than his reign in the 8th century BCE. It may have been assembled as late as the 4th century BCE. 3

The following quotations come from the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible:
bullet Prov 13:24: "He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes (diligently)."
bullet Prov 19:18: "Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying."
bullet Prov 22:15: "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."
bullet Prov 23:13: "Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die."
bullet Prov 23:14: "Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell (Shoel)."
bullet Prov 29:15: "The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."

An additional verse from the New Testament is occasionally cited as justification for physical punishment of children:
bullet Hebrews 12:6-7: "...the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?"

From our study of conservative Protestant books on child-raising, and the content of numerous radio programs on Christian radio stations, it appears that many Fundamentalist and other Evangelical Christians equate "punishment" and "discipline" with "corporal punishment." But it is not clear whether the discipline, referred to at the end of this New Testament verse, refers to corporal punishment or to some other form of correction (e.g. removal of privileges).

horizontal rule
http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin8.htm

 

[lovely]

The parents have the option to say no. To be honest, if you are doing your job as a parent, then your child will likely never need to be spanked. If a parent doesn't want others disciplining their children, then they should not put them in school. It would be unloving to put your son or daughter in someone's care for eight hours daily, and then say that they should not receive discipline appropriate for the misbehavior. It's better to start early in their lives too. Anyway, when my dad takes our children he has permission to discipline them, because he is the authority over them and they need authority to watch and care for them at all times. I would never leave my child in the presence of someone I didn't trust in the first place, especially for something as important as their education and discipline. Our policy is, if your grandfather had to discipline you, then you will be disciplined again at home for not behaving while in his care. My dad has never had to spank them. (We rarely spank them ourselves now that they are out of their toddler years.)

I believe that when they get even older, and on they are on their own, they will know how to rule themselves because of a constant exercise in self-discipline, and the expectation that they will give themselves over to the one who is in authority over them. They are learning that God is their ultimate authority, whom they should both fear and love, and that they should, with His help, be like the mighty who are able to rule their own spirit. We want them to walk in strength and conviction as men and women of God. Just a few more thoughts. The Lord bless all of you.

 

[paisley]

" To be honest, if you are doing your job as a parent, then your child will likely never need to be spanked."
For the most part I agree with that. I would say the majority of children I went to school with never got paddled. Usually the idea that they could be paddled was enough to keep most kids out of trouble especially the girls, but there are always some children that are just naturally more active and curious than other kids that have a tendency to get into mischief. These children can be from excellent homes, but end up doing something of childish mischief (not malicious) that can get them in trouble especially if they have some friends egging them on.

I also think the demeanor of a teacher can make a big difference if children are paddled or not. Every teacher I had in school, had a paddle but I had some teachers that never used the paddled, never raised their voices, etc. You just walked into the classroom and knew that teacher wouldn`t put up with nonsense so everyone sat down and was quiet. There was no disorder in these classrooms.

"If a parent doesn't want others disciplining their children, then they should not put them in school. It would be unloving to put your son or daughter in someone's care for eight hours daily, and then say that they should not receive discipline appropriate for the misbehavior."

I agree with this. I would also add that it is unfair to the teacher. We ask the teacher to take complete legal liability for a whole classroom of students' safety and welfare, but then say not to discipline is completely unrealistic and actually very selfish to expect a teacher to put up with any and every behavior and remain pleasant and kind to our children. Teachers should be able to discipline but they should also be held accountable by the parents. Parents should be able to step in if a teacher is being unfair, too harsh, or unrealistic in their discipline. At the same time, parents need to back the teacher up if their child is misbehaving. Teachers should have the support and encouragement of parents since quite frankly teachers are helping raise the child.

 

[Timothy]

In this day and age I would not trust any teacher to lay a hand on a child of mine. There are too many ways that can go wrong and most of all you know a teacher is not spanking a child out of love, they are doing it to punish. As far as I'm concern the motivation to punish rather then protect and teach is the first step on a slippery slope when it comes to spanking.

 

[SeverinR]

I believe that corpral punishment should involve:
1.the parents permission.
2.Required a 2nd teacher or principle be involved in the punishment. To ensure that
a teacher isn't over reacting, or abusing a child, they don't like. And the 2nd teacher remain for witnessing the punishment.
3.the punishment be documented so that it is clear of who and why did the punishment.