If you've ever taught 9th graders two weeks before spring break in Baltimore City, admit it... you've thought about harming them.
According to the above article from CNN, over 200,000 US children were subjected to corporal punishment as a disciplinary practice at their schools in the 2006-2007 school year. 13 states "frequently" use corporal punishment as a behavior consequence- Missouri, Kentucky, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida.
To quote Liz Lemon on "30 Rock"- "I want to go to there."
All joking aside, I have seriously wondered what punishments might be more effective for my students. The minor consequences don't work- detention, conferences in the hall way, a parent phone call, the omnipotent seat move... We're two weeks before spring break. The kids aren't amateurs. They're pulling out the big guns. And all we can do is suspend them.
Suspensions are a joke. The kids long for them, they want them. They'll have a relaxing few days at home, then pop up and demand a work packet (printed out on my personal printer with my personal ink with my personal paper, of course). For a truly troubled child, no consequence whatsoever can change their behavior. Only relationship building and mutual respect between teacher and student can overcome the barriers- and it's difficult to build relationships with young people who refuse to shut their mouths.
So I'm left to my fantasies... and a great many of them involve corporal punishment. Anyone up for petitioning the state of Maryland to repeal the ban on corporal punishment? Anyone? Get back to me next Monday morning.
1 comment:
This is one of the saddest posts I have seen. Not that some of us have not thought about it, but usually we come back to the understanding that punishment:
1) Doesn't work, at least not beyond the exact moment we use it
2) Kids who get hit (I worked in a school in La. where it was used back a few (more than actually) years ago so this isn't some liberal BS, but liberal experience) stop responding even in the moment
3) Creates (as you are experiencing already) a culture that is us against them.
It is this last point that is actually what the administration is supposed to deal with. Let's think about it - do you really believe that the kids want something different than you do? Do you not think that they want interesting classes? A caring community? Teachers who care about them? Materials that they can read? Courses taught that connect with who they are? Classes and units that come from a place of passion? Of course they do. Do they know how to get it? No, they have never had experience creating that and neither have most adults. This doesn't mean you should give up or give in to wanting to hit kids.
Just as suspension doesn't work to "fix" schools (Hollywood movies aside), and booting the worst 10% of kids out of school also doesn't work (aren't we supposed to teach all the kids? Won't there just be others to take their place? Won't our standards rise if no one takes their place and won't we just want to keep taking the worst 10% until we are left with 5 kids?), hitting doesn't do it either. Check out where some of the places mentioned in the article that use this form of punishment place in terms of education. When I was in La, we were 48th in the country.
Having said all of that, there are choices for you, the kids and the families. Go to job fairs, tell your friends that you do not have to put up with being treated like crap. Charter schools, transformation schools and innovation high schools as well as some other regular schools offer something better - I know. Been in this system since 1994.
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