Small Town News

Teaching non-violence through brutality

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When the headline flashed up on my computer screen last week I guffawed, turning around to tell a co-worker what I thought I had just read:

"House Says No to Parental Consent for Spanking"

And then, to my horror, as I started to read it out loud so that they could laugh too, I realized that I hadn't misread it. My heart sank into that pit in my stomach reserved for the asininity of Texas politics.

Seems Alma Allen, D-Houston, a former teacher and principal, originally pressed to get corporal punishment banned in Texas public schools (as it is in 30 more-evolved states in the nation) but then scaled back her efforts when she met with uncompromising resistance. So last Wednesday, Allen introduced legislation that would make it necessary to get a parent's consent before hitting their child. Simple enough. Students can't even get on a school bus without prior written approval.

Enter HB 359. With unimaginable temerity, in a vote of 69 to 73, this parental consent bill failed. This was not a bill that would forbid people from hitting your child, this was just ensuring that you are okay with it. Here's where the irony comes into play: Guess which party held 71 out of 73 of those "it's fine with me if you want to wallop my kid" votes?

That's right. These are the same guys who want to deny funding to programs that offer affordable birth control and, when that fails, prenatal care to women who may not have the capacity to adequately care for a child. Then they cut early childhood programs that enable these same children to begin school on even footing with children from more attentive households and, consequently, be less disruptive in class. Oh, and then they plan to cram a boatload of them into one classroom to save some money and, the cherry, they want to cut the teacher's pay in the process.

So, when these children react to this environment that they have been thrust into, these law makers' solution is to beat them with a wooden paddle. More irony? Research has shown over and over, that corporal punishment leads to higher dropout rates, which in turn leads to poverty and unplanned pregnancies due to lack of access to affordable birth control, which brings us full circle. Not surprisingly, the top ten states (out of only 20, remember) which use corporal punishment are also the top ten states with the highest teen birth rate in the nation (with the exception of Nevada which no longer hits their school children).

And the irony continues. At a protest at the state capitol after HB 359 failed, a group of parents, educators and assorted concerned citizens gathered to express their discontent with their representatives. While attempting to enter the building with the same wooden paddles used in public schools, to show as examples, they were stopped by security guards who determined that the paddles were weapons, and like guns and knives, must be left outside for the safety of our legislators. Who actually could use a good spanking.

Later, in a brief moment of lucidity, HB 359 was reconsidered and modified to allow parents to provide written notice forbidding school personnel from hitting their children. Ever. By anyone. The caveat? To get the bill passed, 87 lawmakers insisted that kids in counties with less than 50, 000 folks could still get hit in school. They didn't say why.

And I thank my lucky stars (and a bit of due diligence when selecting a home for my children) that Hays CISD has, for quite a while, been wise enough to know that hitting never solves anything and it is never okay - for students and faculty alike - to resort to such primal behavior. These educators expect us to use our words and, optimally, I'm sure, our inside voices.

And, in a final twist of irony, this jewel from Jordan Riak, a proponent of non-barbaric methods of classroom discipline: "Currently, the only people in Texas who can legally batter another human being on the buttocks with a weapon as part of their paid professional duties are 1) porn stars, 2) prostitutes and 3) schoolteachers. This grouping may be a bit unfair to members of groups 1 and 2. In those cases, participants in the activity do so as freely consenting adults. Not so in schools."



Copyright 2011 The Free Press, Buda, Texas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.

© 2011 The Free Press Buda, Texas. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.

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