Once again, a case of corporal punishment has become news in the media even though this form of punishment has been banned by the government following a ruling of the High Court in January this year. This time, an administrative officer has beaten a student of an English medium school in the city. This form of punishment, which is a violation of human rights, is an impediment to achieving real education.
In stark terms that serve as a reminder of what we’re talking about, the bill defines corporal punishment as “the deliberate infliction of physical pain by hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping, or any other physical force used as a means of discipline.”
ACTION ALERT
Call or email these Reps today and ask them to vote for Rep. Alma Allen’s HB 359 which will be voted on Friday, May 6 on the House floor.
HB 359 will abolish corporal punishment in Texas schools but allow parents to opt-in for their children. It is a big step forward for Texas and will virtually eliminate school padding.
On Facebook, a lengthy exchange of written posts and ripostes by some of my Deming neighbors on HB 172 actually roused one person to cheer the armed policemen who recently used pepper spray on an eight year old in a Colorado classroom. “Kudos!” she wrote. “That kid will think twice next time.”
It is remarkable to witness such enthusiasm for police violence, appropriate or not, even when the subject is a child, with no equivalent enthusiasm for social workers and counselors who heal children’s hearts with listening and compassion. Children are not our enemies, but our deepest and most sacred responsibility.
Do child predators bamboozle you? This is the headline from an email I received from Yello Dyno.
“We’ve been bamboozled long enough. The old saying ‘out of sight, out of mind’ has become the social norm, much to the delight of child predators.”–The Yello Dyno email continues. Yes, I agree we have been bamboozled long enough by predators–and society is also being bamboozled by Yello Dyno. Yello Dyno’s focus regarding child sexual abuse looks at the sexual child abuse predator outside the family. This is totally misleading. Studies reveal that 80% of children, who are sexually abused, are abused by a family member; 19% are abused by people the child knows and trusts.