Causing Solutions

Oh, yeah. This can't stay silent. Nothing like finding a gem of a news story first thing in the morning, happily delivered to your e-mail by none other than your SO. CNN wants us to freak out because more than 200,000 kids were spanked during the school year last year!

*GASP!*

Two hundred thousand kids! ZOMG! The world is going to implode!

Whatever.

Not enough, in my opinion. You know why? Because kids are still killing kids. Because they still think they can rule the classroom--I can say this, having taught for a single year. We got to administer "standards." I will not's written a set number of times.

...and would you believe I got phone calls from parents saying I had no right?!

Okay, America, listen in and listen good... A child does not dictate his own punishment. I don't care if you're black, white, red, purple, yellow, green with pink polk-a-dots, if you're going to disobey in a classroom you are going to get an appropriate punishment. Flinging rubberbands--you mean shooting rubberbands?!--across the room is not appropriate behavior and if you actually hit someone with those...you're done. A teacher is not a babysitter. A school is not a daycare. You wanna know why people on Yahoo Answers have retarded questions like "How is babby formed? How girl get pragnet?" Because teachers can't do what they're trained to do and teach students.

Oh! And on top of not being able to maintain classroom control because there's a lack of a true discipline system, lest we forget, we are no longer teaching students information--we're teaching them the standardized tests so we don't lose funding.

"How is babby formed?"

The ACLU, of course, couldn't let this go--there's a higher percentage of African-Americans who are sent for paddlings and more of the African-Americans that get spanked are girls.

Well.

Statistically speaking... If you're at a school comprised mostly of black children, you're going to have a higher percentage of black children going to the principal's office. On top of that, if you have a higher percentage of black girls in the school district.... you get where this is going.

I'll admit it! I was spanked in school when I was little. I consider myself a fairly well-adjusted 30 year old. I didn't whine and complain to my mom that Mrs. Fritz or Mrs. Hughes spanked me. In fact, I sorta hid that fact from her. Because, as a lot of you may remember (well, if you're not growing up now in the "Save the Child's Psyche" generation), if you got spanked at school, you got spanked at home.

Parents need to stop sniveling and DEAL WITH THE PROBLEM!

You don't like that your child got spanked at school? Maybe, and this is just a thought, you should, perhaps, talk to your child and find out why he was spanked at school. As a teacher, I can attest to the fact that we don't just assign arbitrary punishment for no reason--despite what your child says. Calling us while we're teaching to discuss your child's behavior problem is inappropriate. We do not call you at work to discuss our marital problems. You go through the proper channels and schedule a meeting with the teacher. It's not hard.

Yes, your "little angel" is not perfect. I know it's a shock and I know it's hard to believe. But, ya know what? They're just like you were as a kid.

...only with guns.

"Spanking isn't a deterrent," I hear you cry.

Of course it's not. Nothing is if it's not consistent or supported at home. Children see parents arguing and yelling at the teachers and watch as the teachers are disempowered by the Administrators and suddenly, they know what they can get away with. Nothing is more infuriating for a teacher than to discipline a child for something they are doing wrong only to be told that you can't discipline that child.

Here's a big UP YOURS! If you think you can do a better job educating and disciplining your child, then do it. Quit your day job. Take a pay cut. Pour your heart and soul into that child--they'll be better off for it.

...and maybe they won't force James Hetfield to put up a fence....