Today I explored some of the edublogger sites that were up on ctools. I decided to look at the edublogs that pertained to my subject area - English. One particularly struck me because, while it wasn't about English education, it was about corporal punishment. We talked about corporal punishment in Eugenie's class, and this woman said that the first high school she taught at after being certified has just issued corporal punishment as some of its discipline measures. She said that this school had some pretty serious discipline problems in the past, and that this is the most recent in a string of efforts to control the students. Here is my response:
Hi Dana-
I’m a grad student at University of Michigan, and I just noticed your blog. I’m working on my masters in secondary English education, and interestingly enough we just discussed the idea of corporal punishment in schools yesterday in one of our courses. I agree with you that adding violent acts to school discipline certainly will perpetuate the problem of violence. Why would we as educators punish our students, when they are receiving punishment enough through simply living their lives? It seems that we have only become part of the problem here. It is unfortunate that people who are expected to create a safe environment for teens are now enforcing physical punishment. What will happen to the motivation to go to school? Will it still be seen as an escape from the harsh realities of home or the neighborhood?
Clearly, I'm against corporal punishment... but I would suggest checking out her blog at http://www.huffenglish.com/ for updates if they come along.
3 comments:
You left such a thoughtful comment on your EduBloger's account. I am jealous - my responses were more along the lines of, "oh neat pictures!"
Which they were. But still.
And it is a fascinating link you provided.
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Good job on all counts, Alli. I'm glad that you found something interesting upon which to weigh in, and I'm pleased that you blogged about it as well. It's nice to see you making and exploring such important connections, Alli.
It also provides a reminder of an important topic to check into with regard to your placement.
So let me play devil's advocate (not that I agree with corporal punishment at all).
You're in front of your class and there are about 3-4 students who simply will not sit down, will not pay attention, will not do their work and insist on loudly and rudely interrupting others from doing their work. They threaten other students, and they threaten you, by trying to physically intimidate you and gain power in the classroom.
You have sent them out of the room. They live at the principal's office for most of the school day, because they get sent out so much. They have been suspended numerous times and they just aren't making any forward progress. No one knows what to do with them anymore.
Miraculously, one of their parents comes for parent-teacher conferences and you are so relieved that maybe you can find a way to get through to this kid. You notice that the student, with their parent around, is being docile, calm and silent. You explain the situation and the parent says "I know, it's the same at home. The only thing that will make him listen is the crack of the belt."
Now, let me clarify. I don't think it's right to put your hands on students EVER and am not advocating this method... but for arguments' sake, if the objective of the education system (as it is, not as we want it to be) is to train good citizens, who are punctual, listen to orders and respect authority, what better way to show students who's boss? If it works at home, why not use what works? What are better solutions for the students with really rough home lives, who only respect authority when it's connected to violence?
It's an incredibly hard question... and I wish I had an answer for you.
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