Help stop the legalized beating of children in U.S schools!

[stopschoolpaddling]

I personally know how it feels to have my 5 year old son come home from his first week of Kindergarten, walk up to me and cry long terrified tears and beg me not to make him go back to school. Yes that was my son's first introduction into our education system. What happened? His teacher had brought a long wooden paddle into the room and explained "on the carpet" how it would be used on them if they didn't behave. She then left it on her desk as a reminder. You think I'm joking? I'm not and I can tell you that when I tried to address my concerns with school officials I was treated like dirt. My story is a long one so I won't go into it here but eventually I just packed up the truck and moved out of Arkansas. My children now love to go to school because as they will tell you in their own words, "they don't hit kids at my school." Please see the below letter with link and sign the petition to stop the horrible intimidating, terrorizing and brutalizing of U.S school children NOW!!!

Dear All Democratic Underground Users,

A bill for banning widespread abuse including school beatings in
American schools was introduced to Congress on June 29, 2010 by NY Rep.
Carolyn McCarthy, entitled, “Ending American School Corporal Punishment
Act,” HR 5628.

The bill has the potential to die if American citizens and US
Republicans remain “unresponsive” to the urgent call to action for
protecting American school children from “sanctioned” and “lawless”
corporal punishment, some of which has led to fatalities (see: “Harm
For American School Children Desired by Republicans, According to News
Reports": http://www.thehittingstopshereurstory.com/messageboard/).

PRIMARY TARGETS FOR THIS ABUSE ARE MINORITIES AND CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS.

Please sign the petition for supporting Rep. McCarthy’s bill located on
the Home page of www.TheHittingStopsHere.com and ask your social
communities and co-group or organization members to do the same.

Informative messages and information on how to help can be found on the
following link:
http://www.thehittingstopshereurstory.com/messageboard/.

We appreciate your sending/posting this letter to your contacts.

Thank you,

Sandra
Email me at [e-mail] if you would like to help get this message out.
Supporter of The Hitting Stops Here!
A campaign for teaching kindness and respect in schools everywhere.
www.TheHittingStopsHere.com
[e-mail]

[babylonsister]

1. Ah jeeze.

[pnwmom]

18. Your point isn't clear. n/t

[elleng]

2. Done

:hug:

[stopschoolpaddling]

5. Thank you Elleng!

[Berserker]

3. You don't beat

spank or paddle children anytime you fuckers.

[stopschoolpaddling]

6. Yes, that about sums it up.

[RKP5637]

4. I rec'ed it and someone's unrec'ing it... WTF n/t

[napi21]

7. She didn't HIT anyone did she? For goodness sake, it was a threat

for unacceptable behavior. I did the very same thing with my kids when they were little. I never hit them, but I had a hugh wooden spoon hanging on the kitchen wall. If they became unruly, all I had to say was I'm gonna get the spoon, and they'd straighten up and fly right. They are both grown with families of their own now, and and my grandchildren were raise the same way. They are now 9, 12 & 12 and doing just fine. No child sholud be beaten, but discipline is mandatory.

[stopschoolpaddling]

9. First of all, my son was not misbehaving so he did not need to

be threatened,(not that I approve of it, I don't) and yes, I know for a fact that two Kindergarten children out of 20 in my son's class were paddled at that school within the first week (apparently it took them all of 5 days to run out of options) and those are just a few of the horrors that I know about.

[pnwmom]

15. I totally agree with your position, SSP. Thank you for taking a strong stand. n/t

[pnwmom]

14. Discipline is important, but physical punishment--or the threat of it--is ABUSE.

There are many other better forms of discipline, but they call for more skill and self-restraint on the part of the teacher or parent. Lazy, ignorant, impatient, or angry adults would rather strike out : then pretend that that is the only way to discipline. I lived in one state where the paddle was displayed in the classroom, and two where it was against the law. The classrooms in the latter two states were every bit as well-behaved as the first.

The threat that you advocate will have the greatest effect on the children who are least likely to misbehave anyway. The impulsive, out-of-control children won't be affected by the threat. The shy, sensitive children will.

[msongs]

8. let kids open carry at school, since guns can be taken ANYWHERE all the time according to RKBA ppl n

[MichiganVote]

11. Yeah and let them have the guns at home too so that when mommy won't let the kid

play video games all day or smoke pot with their friends they can just smoke em'. Let'sjust tell our kids that the way to solve a problem is to kill people.

[stopschoolpaddling]

12. Grades K -6th 108 students, 61 paddlings 2008/2009

Time and time again, advocates for the use of corporal punishment will cite that it’s the only recourse to keep the order in over-crowded schools located in already drug-infested violent neighborhoods. They may think that is true but the facts show a different trend. The sheer number of paddling assaults versus number of students at this quiet little school on small children defies all decency.

Need I go on?

[pnwmom]

16. SPS, your figures are indisputable. Only lazy and ignorant people think paddling

is necessary for discipline at home or in the schools. I would never have allowed my children to attend such schools, either.

[stopschoolpaddling]

20. Thank you for your support pnwmom.

There might be people on this forum who remember me posting about corporal punishment way back in Sept. 09. I can't tell you how happy I am to find that the nightmare may soon be coming to an end for all of those children. When I was still in Arkansas, I knew so many of them. I don't think my children had even one friend who hadn't been paddled at school. It was truly heartbreaking. (and terrifying at the same time.) Unfortunately, out little dream farm on 20 acres stands empty now except for the chickens, sheep, and guinea fowl that we raised that are being watched over by a neighbor. There was no garden this year. And the trampoline (I spent almost $1000 for it on ebay practically the biggest and most durable one they had) was too heavy to move and impossible to take apart anyway. I guess I thought that we had found home but apparently not. Even if this bill passes I don't think I could go back. I could never trust my children to those schools. God only knows what the principals in that area will resort to next once their weapons have been taken away.

[Hannah Bell]

27. arkansas is an outlier. maybe it's the voters there.

[pnwmom]

29. Or maybe it's that administrators feel freer to do this in areas with more black students.

Look at the numbers for Mississippi and Alabama.

[Hannah Bell]

31. chicago has plenty of black students too. maybe it's the voters who don't give a shit.

[pnwmom]

33. State law prevents Chicago school administrators from doing it.

Illinois is part of the more civilized part of the country in that respect.

[Hannah Bell]

49. "Or maybe it's that administrators feel freer to do this in areas with more black students."

kind of a contradiction there, pnwmom.

lots of majority black districts & schools in illinois.

so which is it, civilized or racist?

[Recursion]

56. When I was in elementary school in Mississippi white teachers couldn't paddle black students

And vice-versa. (In high school we also had two homecoming queens and two student body presidents: segregation in a single building.)

For a while the policy was that the teacher reporting the disciplinary problem could not be the one performing the corporal punishment; eventually they changed it to only the principal and assistant principal could perform the corporal punishment.

[MichiganVote]

10. Hard to take your post seriously. No dates, no school district names etc.

And for the record, I attended private schools where physical abuse (slapping kids) was rampant. I also attended public schools where physical punishment was neither used or allowed.

Your post also distorts the prohibitions that have existed for decades in most locale with regard to physical punishment of students.

[stopschoolpaddling]

13. Follow this link to see for yourself what is really going on in American Schools

and pay close attention to the pictures. Corporal punishment in schools is a reality albeit an ugly one. http://www.nospank.net/ That should open your eyes.

[pnwmom]

17. Twenty states DO allow corporal punishment. That's 20 "locales" too many.

The last time I recall the Supreme Court ruling on corporal punishment, they ruled that it was legal in a case involving a 9 year old Florida student who actually ended up with a broken arm in the process. They said that students don't have the same civil rights as adults -- even to the extent of overlooking a broken arm!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_punishment

[Hannah Bell]

26. and in all but 8, incidence is

[pnwmom]

28. The incidence is declining, but it shouldn't be legal anywhere.

No one in those states can argue that their students -- as opposed to students in all the other students -- are better behaved as a result.

[Hannah Bell]

32. such policies are decided at the state level, maybe you should make your appeal to the voters of

states in question.

[pnwmom]

35. SPS HAS been actively working on this issue. What's wrong with her looking for

even more support on a progressive board, where you'd think she should be finding a lot of people who would care about this?

[Hannah Bell]

37. i have no influence whatsoever over whether schools an ark. spank.

schools in my state, & *most* states, *don't*.

[pnwmom]

39. And 22 states do. Plenty of issues are discussed on DU that affect fewer people. n/t

[Hannah Bell]

47. and only 8 who actually *do*. one of which ms stop school paddling lives in.

she's posting at DU.

wow, *that's* an effective way of changing your local district policy.

[stopschoolpaddling]

36. The states have had plenty of time to do the right thing, not one

more child beaten in public schools! Time to go over their heads.

[Hannah Bell]

38. *most* states explicitly outlaw corporal punishment in schools. you happen to live in a retrograde

state.

i suggest a petition drive. it's arkansas that has a problem, not "schools", not school administrations, etc.

arkansas & the rest of the southern retrogrades. if your voters support corporal punishment, not the schools' fault.

[pnwmom]

40. "Most" is really just a little more than half. 22 states still allow it by YOUR statistics.

Of course it's a school issue -- school administrators in states where it's legal can always choose not to do it. But too many don't.

[Hannah Bell]

42. but only 8 actually practice it. & voters in a district can easily end it. if they want to, that

is.

[pnwmom]

48. Voters won't end it if they're not aware of it, and SPS is trying to build awareness

among progressives in all the states that still allow it. More power to her.

But are you saying that the civil rights of children should be up to voters? You agree, then, with the SCOTUS decision that basically says children are subhumans without civil rights?

[Hannah Bell]

50. if it's such a problem, how would they not? oh, right, because *those* parents don't care.

[pnwmom]

54. Those parents and schools who support corporal punishment are wrong. Period. n/t

[pnwmom]

41. So no DUers live in any of those 22 "retrograde states"? n/t

[Hannah Bell]

44. ms. "stop school spanking" does. what's she doing on DU, why isn't she going door to door in her

town telling people what the problem is & getting them to sign petitions to end it?

why isn't she at school board meetings with like-minded people?

why isn't she forming a parents' group & going to the school in question? the mayor's office, the local paper, the county government?

all these are *democratic* means citizens & parents can use to change school & district policies. They're rather effective, unlike posting on a chatboard.

posting at DU is precisely *useless* for her purposes.

unless her purpose is just to bash schools generally.

[pnwmom]

46. She's not here to bash schools. And she no longer lives in the state where the

problem occurred.

Why can't a person advocate for a needed change without being accused of bashing schools in general? That's ridiculous.

Posting on DU is a good way to reach other like-minded people who might be motivated to email or write letters to their own representatives. If I were living in one of those 22 states, I would.

[Hannah Bell]

51. might help if she got the name of the bill right.

“Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools Act”

[pnwmom]

52. Thank you! n/t

[stopschoolpaddling]

19. Thank you to all who are viewing this thread. I just hope

you will take the 3 minutes it will take to sign the petition. That one extra signature could save a child's life. Here is the link again www.TheHittingStopsHere.com and thank you in advance!

Every 20 seconds of the school day, a child is beaten by an educator. Every 4 minutes, an educator beats a child so "severely that she seeks medical attention." According to conservative reporting to the U.S. Department of Education 223,190 students were the victims of institutionalized violence at least once in the 2006-2007 school year, of which over 20,000 sought medical attention.

[CoffeeCat]

21. Abusing children isn't smart...

Children don't need to be traumatized into behaving. Children can't learn
if they are afraid, especially very young children as you described.

No teacher has the right to hit a child. You send your child to school
to learn--not to be physically abused by an educator who would choose to
hit because they are too ignorant to be a real leader that inspires
children.

Children can learn to behave in school without resorting to threats of
physical violence and physical abuse. Any "educator" who can't teach
children without hitting them, doesn't deserve to be around children.

Discipline means "to teach" not "beat until submission and trauma are accomplished."

If these clowns want to believe that discipline means physical abuse--well, I guess
you're free to make all of the mistakes you want with your own children or other
assorted relatives that you want to hit. But these people should have not have
the freedom to hit other people's children--especially if the parents of these
children strongly object to their children being threatened and physically abused
during school.

[stopschoolpaddling]

25. You are right.

You wrote "these people should have not have the freedom to hit other people's children" I hope you will
sign the petition and pass it on to your friends and family to make sure that they don't enjoy this freedom much longer.

[Duckhunter935]

22. will you tell us the school

Sounds made up to me to make a point

[stopschoolpaddling]

23. Well, I don't know how I can prove it to you but it happened.

The school is located in Leslie Arkansas and is called Leslie Elementary. Below is a copy of a letter to the editor that was published last year in the Marshall newspaper (nearest real town) before we left. Every word is true and they knew it. No one could be bothered to comment on it. Just for the record Stone county did paddle less children per capita but their violent style of educating was just as bad. And so we moved. There were no other schools.

Dear Editor,
I became concerned with corporal punishment in the Marshall
school district after my son in his first week of Kindergarten this
year came home and told me that his teacher was scaring him and he
didn’t want to go to school anymore. Upon questioning, he then told
me his teacher screamed all the time and had showed his class a large
wooden paddle and explained that it could be used on children who
didn’t behave. She then kept the paddle in full view of the children
on her desk. Outraged at how she was trying to control her classroom
by intimidation and the fear of punishment, I tried to address the
issue with school officials. Since they stated they were in complete
support of this type of teacher behavior and became defensive and
outright hostile in my questioning their disciplinary tactics, I
decided to investigate. Here is what I found.
According to records on the Arkansas Department of Education
(ADE) website, during the 2007/2008 school year, there were a total of
394 reported incidences of corporal punishment in all Searcy County
schools. That same year neighboring Stone county reported 125. It
should be noted that Stone County had just 46 less students that year
then Searcy County did. On this same document under the heading of
“other discipline” Stone County reported 542 and Searcy County
reported 6. Well, due to the huge differences between the two
counties, my investigation continued. First, I ranked each of the 75
counties in Arkansas by dividing the reported numbers of corporal
punishment incidences with the number of enrolled students. What I
found was according to records from the ADE website, Searcy County
came in 8th and Stone county came in 29th per capita with #1 being
the county that used it the most.
Shortly after this, I had the occasion to go 4 wheeling in my
neck of the woods and encountering 8 various aged children who attend
Searcy county schools, I decided to ask them if they’d ever been
paddled at school. To my utter amazement and subsequent horror, every
single one gave the same answer: yes. So my investigation continued
and I decided to request the corporal punishment records from the
Marshall County School District. True to form, they completely
ignored my request until I was advised by ADE to send them a certified
letter quoting my freedom of information. If you are not shocked by
what I have to tell you next, then perhaps you know these schools all
to well.
What I received were the corporal punishment records broken down
into years and the 3 schools that comprise Marshall County school
district. According to their own records, in this school district
alone that only consists of a little over half of all students in
Searcy County there were 616 incidences of corporal punishment in
2007/2008. But what of the figure on the ADE website that reports 394
as a combined number of all the schools in Searcy county? Was it an
oversight on behalf of the people who combined the data? Or did they
intentionally not report their actual numbers? If I rate Marshall
School district like I did counties and divide the number of corporal
punishment incidences by the number of students they will claim 1st
place in all of Arkansas in the race to spank as many children as they
possibly can.
I leave you with these questions. Is corporal punishment being
used as a last resort or first? Are the children of Searcy County
more than 5 times more likely to misbehave to the point of warranting
a paddling than the children of Stone County? Why at Leslie
Elementary during the 2006/2007 school year were there 18 reported
paddlings and then during 2007/2008 it jumps to 69 and 61 in
2008/2009? What the hell happened? Did a bus load of juvenile
delinquents suddenly move to the area all at once or maybe a planetary
cosmic shift could explain it? Or maybe, a new principle that
started in 2006 took it easy the first year while she got her bearings
and then when she was comfortable enough to do it her way without
arousing suspicion went on a paddling rampage to satisfy her sadistic
urge to inflict pain on children? Marshall Elementary’s reported
number of paddlings went from 105 in 2006/2007 and 96 in 2007/2008 to
a whopping 168 in 2008/2009. Guess what? A new principle was hired
that year. So which is it that’s causing all this paddling, more
misbehavior from children or a preference by principles to solve
behavioral problems through force? . Just so you know, Marshall High
School has had the same principle since 1995 and their corporal
punishment numbers don’t change much from year to year. I hope the
fact that there are consistently more paddlings per year than there
are students at this school doesn’t alarm anyone.
If anyone would like to see the report that I’m getting my
information from just email me and I’ll be more than happy to forward
it to you. As for corporal punishment in this area, I’m done with it.
My children now attend in Stone County where they have a better
record. I just felt obligated to the children who are stuck there to
make this information public.

[e-mail]

P.S. In response to the two writers who claim I haven’t done my
research and that corporal punishment is having a positive effect on
the number of children who will wind up in jail, please go to the
public records section of the November 11th newspaper and read the
petition by your sheriff office to raise criminal fines to offset the
cost of the rising number of incarcerations in Searcy County. Keep up
the good work folks, and don’t worry about the fact that the high
school drop out rate so far this year at Marshall High is only .3 away
from double the median average, not to worry I’m sure you will reach
your goal in turning as many children as you can off on education.
How do you do it?

[pnwmom]

24. It's legal in TWENTY states!!! But you're assuming they don't do it?

If you did the least bit of research yourself you'd see that what she's saying is being repeated all over the country, every day.

[CoffeeCat]

43. Geez!

Nothing like calling someone a liar!

[txlibdem]

30. I hope my daughter

if she ever decides to have children I hope she will home school them.

[pnwmom]

34. I think part of what's going in in the states with the highest rates is that parents

who care don't have their children in public schools.

[Hannah Bell]

45. yeah, you *would* think that, wouldn't you. kids in public schools in the south (cough, black,

cough, poor) have parents who don't care.

[pnwmom]

53. Unfortunately, corporal punishment is still acceptable among a lot of African

Americans in the south. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to clarify. I shouldn't have said, "the people who care." I should have said, "the people who oppose corporal punishment."

[Greyskye]

55. Done. I was almost paddled in NM.

Wouldn't wish even the threat of it on any child.