Home > Gwinnett > Rick Badie / My Opinion > Archives > 2008 > July > 29 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USTeacher ‘hit me’ : impact remains
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
In the 1970s, Berlyn Smith was a special needs student in a regular first-grade class in a Cobb County public school.
One day he came home subdued, a lot less jovial than usual. “He wasn’t happy at all,” recalled his mother, Alpha Smith. She asked him a couple of times what ailed him. All Berlyn, who’d suffered brain damage from an illness, could muster was “[teacher’s name] took a piece of wood and hit me.”
“That’s all he knew how to say,” Smith said. “He’d never had a spanking before.”
The next day, Smith spoke with the teacher. She admitted to spanking Berlyn. The offense: The youngster, while sitting at his desk, had let his feet dangle in the aisle. Smith explained that her son had had no idea why he’d been spanked. She asked the instructor if there might have been a better, instructive way to handle the matter.
Tell Berlyn, perhaps, not to put his feet in the aisle and why - that someone might trip, fall and get hurt.
“To paddle him and send him home without [his] even knowing why he was paddled didn’t teach him anything.”
She shared this story with me after Sunday’s column about corporal punishment, a dressed-up word for paddling, spanking or whipping. It was prompted by the Twiggs County school board’s decision to reinstate paddling in that Middle Georgia district for the upcoming school year.
I gave reasons why corporal punishment should be banned in Georgia’s public schools. They were backed by Alphonsa Foward Jr., director of the New Life Academy of Excellence Inc., a Norcross school that my first-grade daughter, Olivia, attends.
As imagined, the column generated tons of response, and save for one nut who posted an inappropriate comment in my blog, readers were serious. On topic. Many fell in the no-spanking category.
Robert Fathman, president of the Ohio-based National Coalition to Abolish Corporal Punishment in Schools, e-mailed a response: “Your [child’s] principal is a wise man,” he wrote. “African-American kids are hit at more than twice the rate of white kids, and Hispanic kids are hardly struck at all. There are cultural divides all over, and no one should be in the business of picking up a board and hitting someone else’s child.”
Smith, 72, a retired paraprofessional, explained that she had a personal story of why campuses are no place for paddling. Back to her tale.
When she talked to the teacher who’d spanked Berlyn, she uncovered the truth. The educator had been spending weekends in Tennessee attending to a sick parent. When she returned to Cobb, she’d head straight to school with no respite. Exhaustion was the reason she brought out the paddle. Nothing else.
“She said she just didn’t have the energy to handle it,” Smith said. “And she was a seasoned teacher.”
Just think, Smith asked, how many children might be unjustly paddled - possibly abused - on campuses where corporal punishment is permitted. She’s right. One is too many.
“I hurt thinking how many children are being spanked, beaten - whatever - by teachers and parents who are taking their own frustrations out on the kids,” Smith said. “And not accomplishing anything.”
Today, Berlyn is 44 years old. He lives with his parents in Loganville.
About 20 years ago, the teacher who’d paddled him died. His mother made note of her passing.
“The first thing he said is, ‘She is the one who paddled me, right?’Â ” Smith said. “He has never forgotten that.”
Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail: rbadie@ajc.com.
Permalink | Comments (29) | Post your comment | Categories: Rick Badie
Comments
By David Merenda
July 29, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
i grew up with school spankings and i got my share, even by the jr high principal, who was the most feared, as he hit the hardest. the women teachers even figured it out, as it was funny when they couldn’t hit hard enough, but after after 30-or 40 reps, it made an impression. not only did it not damage me, it taught me alot about respect, and self control. we seem to have none of that today, if it feels good, do it. likewise if it doesn’t, like, “work”, don’t do it. i spank my kids, and spanked one yesterday! he was already in timeout, and continued to fuss, until i administered the corrective action lesson. after they are aready in timeout, then that is the next step…
By Jordan Riak
July 29, 2008 11:30 AM | Link to this
We have all heard the standard excuses for preserving the tradition of beating schoolchildren with a paddle. We know them by heart. They all are based on the assumption that what worked in the past will work in the future, and that the path to responsible citizenship, for some children at least, is paved with punishment and reward. Mostly punishment. But did child beating ever really work as its defenders claim? And were the good old days as good as some people like to imagine? Tell me the dates that are supposed to have been the golden age for bringing up children, and I’ll tell you what was really going on at that time. I’ll remind you of things that most people want to forget.
Hitting children with weapons has been around a long, long time. But hitting them on the buttocks with a wooden paddle is a relatively recent innovation. A 19th century Virginia plantation owner gets the credit. He found that paddling his slaves on their buttocks caused them excruciating pain, but didn’t leave permanent injuries that would reduce their market value. And it worked. Pain is a powerful motivator. If one is trying to achieve total domination of a defenseless victim, and doesn’t care about the human cost, hitting is clearly the answer.
Our group recently did a survey in paddling states of colleges and universities that have teacher training programs. We asked if they train future teachers in the correct method for paddling students. We didn’t receive one affirmative reply. Were paddling a legitimate educational procedure, it would be taught in the teachers’ colleges, and paddlers would be periodically tested and certified for their proficiency in this risky procedure. But they aren’t. It isn’t taught because it isn’t right.
And there’s the sexual factor. The buttocks are an erogenous zone. Being struck there can stimulate sexual feelings, and children are especially susceptible. The tragic consequence for many children who are punished by paddling, or who witness it, is that they form a connection between pain, humiliation and sexual arousal that endures for the rest of their lives. Ending corporal punishment in schools will have two results which are unarguable. 1) Fewer children will have their sex lives deranged and 2) the teaching profession will cease to attract and become a safe haven for certain people who are obsessed with domination and control issues.
104 nations have banned corporal punishment in their schools. The US stands out as a glaring exception to the rule. There is no excuse for further delay. Paddling violates the mind and body of every child who is on the receiving end, and degrades every educator who uses it to the level of a common bully. The paddle — an obscene relic of plantation days — has no legitimate place in any school in the 21st century. Now is the time to ditch the stick.
Jordan Riak, Exec. Dir., Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE); Web site: “Project NoSpank” at www.nospank.net
By John
July 29, 2008 11:43 AM | Link to this
Thank God I was spanked a lot in school. I seriously believed it help keep me on the strait and narrow. Timeouts and talkings to don’t do squawt for some kids. I didn’t have learning disablities, mental issues or ADD, I was a punk.
By Threadkiller
July 29, 2008 3:56 PM | Link to this
Obviously Mr. Riak has never taught in high school!! What a moron!! “The Buttocks are an Erogenous zone?” Sexual gratification from spanking when a child did something wrong?? Are you kidding me ?? When I did something wrong, the last thing I felt from a spanking was sexual gratification!!
By ever4ward
July 29, 2008 4:18 PM | Link to this
John:
Straight, not strait. Squat not Sqawt. Now, get in the hall and bend over!
sheesh
By LT5000
July 29, 2008 5:10 PM | Link to this
You would think that, with the Gwinnett section being eliminated, Badie would try and write a few substanative articles before he hung up his Bic and joined the Obama parade full time.
But not Badie, just to make sure no one misses him or his insipid rants, he write two spanking op-eds back to back.
Surely, with writers like Badie, they can’t be sitting around in the AJC boardroom wondering what happened.
LT5000
By Consequence-Based Upbringing
July 29, 2008 5:20 PM | Link to this
What I find lacking here is common sense. Those who are anti-spanking automatically assume everyone who spanks is either a sexual deviant, a bigot, or totally out of control. Ludicrous.
By BD
July 29, 2008 5:43 PM | Link to this
And as part of my service to the community, I will take the first whack at LT. Rick, I’ll pass the paddle to you when I’m done.
By other.options
July 29, 2008 6:15 PM | Link to this
What’s ludicrous is that we ignore the professionals. Doing something because it’s the way it’s always been done is ludicrous! That is not the thinking that advances humanity!
The world is flat! The sun does revolve around the earth! Cocaine’s not addictive! Cigarettes don’t cause cancer!
Maybe we should be asking ourselves why we would rather resort to spanking than even considering other options.
As far as schools are concerned, there is no adult in any school that will touch my child. Just do a daily google or yahoo news alert on school or teacher abuse and get a daily dose of what goes on there!
By other.options
July 29, 2008 6:18 PM | Link to this
What’s ludicrous is that we ignore the professionals. Doing something because it’s the way it’s always been done is ludicrous! That is not the thinking that advances humanity!
The world is flat! The sun does revolve around the earth! Cocaine’s not addictive! Cigarettes don’t cause cancer! Lobotomies are good for mental health!
Maybe we should be asking ourselves why we would rather resort to spanking than even considering other options.
As far as schools are concerned, there is no adult in any school that will touch my child. Just do a daily google or yahoo news alert on school or teacher abuse and get a daily dose of what goes on there!
By KIM
July 29, 2008 7:01 PM | Link to this
Some of my generation regret that we had learned corporal punishment was the way to go when disciplining our own children. Nevertheless, I will never forget the first and only time I was asked to witness a high school paddling. It was more than humiliating for the young man, and I, a young teacher, was mortified. This happened in GWinnett where I had moved from Atlanta. I had only attended school in metro Atlanta and had only taught in a metro system prior to coming to Gwinnett. Paddling was unheard of in metro Atl. But someone with much more experience than me at the time said it was Ga. law that allowed paddling. Is it still Ga. law that it is allowed, yet permitted only at the discretion of the local district?
By SomeoneClose
July 30, 2008 7:41 AM | Link to this
The real reason the teacher and other administrators do what they do is because they have immunity from prosecution and there is no watch dog association keeping tabs on educators.
If the average citizen knew the truth about the “secret society” that educators have created through legislation they would be shocked. When an unethical (my opinion) educator like the former principal at Buford High School gets this kind of power, it can be bad for the student. Soon the school is going to pay a heavy price financially for his misuse of sealed documents.
By CJJScout
July 30, 2008 8:33 AM | Link to this
I’m all for it in private schools if you know what is going on, but not for the nanny state to be disciplining my kids that way. The private christian school my kids will attend paddle if it needs to happen, but I’d be p** for the state to lay a hand on my kids.
My mother was a public school teacher for years and paddled her kids. I’m sure she was judicious with it, as she was with her own kids, but I’m still not comfortable with it.
By Fred
July 30, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
Obviously, the person who gets some sexual satisfaction from a paddling never had their Bucket Kicked by Ed Hunt or the Late Bartow Jenkins. It was an experience, but no where CLOSE to a sexual one!
By Gwinnett resident
July 30, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
I am not discipling my child at home, and would aprreciate the school system following my example
By WhoCares
July 30, 2008 10:14 AM | Link to this
With columns like this it’s no wonder the AJC is sucking wind.
By Grading Wooten
July 30, 2008 6:01 PM | Link to this
I was raised by nuns. I never ever got along with any of them. They would single me out. Maybe I asked for it. In first grade, we went to Mass everyday during Lent. One day, the kid in the pew next to me started to stand, sit, and kneel randomly. I followed his every move. We giggled and slapped at each other and in general had a grand old time. Of course, being morons, we failed to realize that the nuns sat just a few pews behind us and took it all in. As we lined up outside of our classroom after Mass, the nun called out my name, “PHIL DOLAN” and she started her swing. As my eyes met her, the slap landed and I was knocked silly for the remainder of my life, (duhh fitzpiggle lickysnoop).
That was the first grade. There were many other incidents. By the time I graduated from high school, the doctors told me it would be safer simply to leave the rulers where the nuns had put them…….
By Bruce Wilcox
July 30, 2008 7:58 PM | Link to this
Coming from one who attended a Catholic school, that is a Classic I’ll have to remember to tell.
By LB
July 31, 2008 8:07 AM | Link to this
There is no mention of teachers who get hit and abused by students. At one time I was a substitute teacher and there was a particular middle school where I got called a lot to sub. There was a kid who could not keep his hands to himself and there was never any ISS or suspension for him. There was another kid who balled up his fist and hit me as hard as he could and no consequence. In fact they allowed him to be on a sports team. I was told that he had anger management issues and to just let him be. These are just two examples of many I endured just because I wanted to serve a purpose and fill a much needed gap in the schools. People are always very quick to want to protect these precious kids by never using any corrective punishment but look what it creates. We now have a society of middle and high school kids who run the school and the teachers just baby sit.
By Bruce Wilcox
July 31, 2008 9:54 AM | Link to this
LB do you have a degree in education? I certainly hope not, sounds like a disappointed sub that maybe expected too much with too little training. But at least you gave it a try, for that a thank you, now please keep away from the children.
By Tim
July 31, 2008 10:54 AM | Link to this
LB,
Don’t worry about Bruce. He likes abuse. He thinks the kids are in charge. If he were teaching, you’d find him naked, getting spanked by the class. Just refuse to teach at any school that doesn’t hold kids accountable. Or, you can bring Bruce in to the class and let them beat his a*. He wouldn’t mind.
By Consequence-Based Upbringing
July 31, 2008 10:59 AM | Link to this
Yeah, Bruce. I’ll just bet you would have stood by and let some 8th grade jock-wannabe with an over-fed gut and ego haul off and nail you. You expect that type of behavior to go unpunished? Bet you allow your kids to whale on you when they don’t get their way, too. After all, their must be another way, right? Oh yeah, you don’t kick your kids !@# when they need it. Might damage their egos. Did ya’ll ever think that maybe kids wouldn’t have such big egos if nobody fed them? I’m just sayin’ …..
By Carbon Footprint
July 31, 2008 4:44 PM | Link to this
I was raised by nuns. I never ever got along with any of them. They would single me out. Maybe I asked for it. In first grade, we went to Mass everyday during Lent. One day, the kid in the pew next to me started to stand, sit, and kneel randomly. I followed his every move. We giggled and slapped at each other and in general had a grand old time. Of course, being morons, we failed to realize that the nuns sat just a few pews behind us and took it all in. As we lined up outside of our classroom after Mass, the nun called out my name, “PHIL DOLAN” and she started her swing. As my eyes met her, the slap landed and I was knocked silly for the remainder of my life, (duhh fitzpiggle lickysnoop).
That was the first grade. There were many other incidents. By the time I graduated from high school, the doctors told me it would be safer simply to leave the rulers where the nuns had put them…….
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