Spanking is a right

[luckylibrarian]

One of my friends from high school (who went from stoner to fundie lite since HS) just posted an article from Circle of Moms about the Texas mother who got five years probation for spanking her 2 yr old.

My friend posted the following on FB: "That judge should be spanked. Spanking is a right, and if it's legal for teachers to spank their students, then parents should be allowed to spank."

Now, last time I checked, spanking isn't a right. And I don't see the correlation between spanking in schools and spanking at home. The 2 yr old isn't school age, and the mother left welts. Presumably, the spanking that occurs in schools - while still wrong - is on clothing and won't leave marks.

ETA: What is Circle of Moms anyway? Is it a Christian thing?

[LynnKaboom]

Wait, since when has it been legal to spank students in school? I graduated from the public school system in 2010 and I was under the impression that if a teacher or administrator raised a hand against us they would be fired, sued, and probably arrested.

[dawniecakes]

The Christian schools my brother and I went to as kids had spanking provisions which the parents signed off of if they would allow it.... I think even the Lutheran one we went to did. My brother was spanked once by the principal, I think around age 10, but I never saw it enforced otherwise.

[hoipolloi]

20 states still allow corporal punishment of some kind (http://nospank.net/nlga.htm); many of them are southern states, although I don't know if TX is one of them.

[handcuff]

I believe parents have the right to spank. I don't believe parents have the right to beat or abuse.

I don't believe the schools should have the right to do any of the above.

-handcuff

[luckylibrarian]

I graduated from high school in 1999. Up until about 1990 or so, paddling was the primary form of punishment at my elementary school. After 1990, there was a more liberal principal who preferred other methods, but it was still allowed. One of the teachers would paddle every student publicly as a big joke on their birthday. I thought it was humiliating, and it certainly didn't feel like a joke.

[fundifugee]

“If an angry man comes into his home and takes the back of his hand to his partner, society calls it assault. If he takes the palm of that hand to their child, it may be called discipline.

"A court of law may sentence that man for assaulting his wife but, accepting his common law defence of “reasonable chastisementâ€, dismiss the case against him for doing the same thing to his child.

"Children are the only people in this society anybody is allowed to hit. All the rest of us are legally protected.â€

Penelope Leach, PhD. PHYSICAL PUNISHMENT IN THE HOME. December 1998

http://web.archive.org/web/20040208153450/http://www.empathicparenting.org/punish.htm

[dianapavelovna]

Paddling in schools is legal in Texas, but very, very rarely practiced anymore - mostly in rural areas, and it's limited to 2 or 3 swats, can't remember which.

And parents and caregivers have the right under the Texas Family Code to use "reasonable discipline" on their children, including spanking. The general rule, however, is that if it leaves marks or bruises, it wasn't reasonable (and certainly not on a two-year-old).

[bananacat]

If you can't keep your class under control without hitting them, you have no business being a teacher. Same thing with parents.

[JesusFightClub]

Like dawniecakes, I attended a Christian school where spanking was permitted if one's parents wrote a letter of permission. Mine declined to do so, so I was not spanked. (This was a UK prep school in the early 90s.)

It seems to make little sense that it's illegal to hit adults but OK to hit children. Sometimes people say "well, a kid couldn't understand, so a smack would be the right thing to do rather than explain." That certainly is logical. But one would not say "An adult with learning difficulties couldn't understand so they should be smacked if they do something wrong". Weird disconnect...

[theologygeek]

One of my friends from high school (who went from stoner to fundie lite since HS) just posted an article from Circle of Moms about the Texas mother who got five years probation for spanking her 2 yr old.

My friend posted the following on FB: "That judge should be spanked. Spanking is a right, and if it's legal for teachers to spank their students, then parents should be allowed to spank."

Now, last time I checked, spanking isn't a right. And I don't see the correlation between spanking in schools and spanking at home. The 2 yr old isn't school age, and the mother left welts. Presumably, the spanking that occurs in schools - while still wrong - is on clothing and won't leave marks.

ETA: What is Circle of Moms anyway? Is it a Christian thing?

Take out the fact that the mother left marks, and this woman would be correct in her statements. Marks are illegal. Spanking is not. It's not against the law to spank a child. Also, corporal punishment in public schools is still legal in some states. The judge was also wrong. "You don’t spank children today,†said Judge Jose Longoria of Corpus Christi’s 214th District Court. “In the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel. You don’t spank children.†Spanking is still legal in the US. Perhaps the judge should look that up. There needs to be a national law to ban spanking in our country. People who don't agree with spanking get in a huff, but how many are proactive? Write letters. Get involved. It's like with anything else. If enough people get involved, there will be results. nospank.net has a lot of info and resources for anyone interested.

[doggie]

I sure got spanked when in school years ago. one teacher had a paddle like a pizza pel. another had a baseball bat flatted both sides with holes. Now that one really hurt.

[mirele]

I know spanking is legal in some US states, but my opinion is that if it's against the law to assault and batter an adult (and that's what spanking is, legalized assault and battery), then it is BY GOD wrong to assault and batter a child.

I've never had children though, but I have had cats. You can't hit a cat, they don't get it. Squirt bottles they sometimes get. Yelling, they look at you like, "You talking to me?" I once was yelling at one cat for knocking over a box of rice all over the floor because I was just frustrated...turned out it was the other, elderly cat, who I thought for sure could not get on top of the fridge who had knocked over the rice. I found that out when she moseyed out of the cabinet on top of the fridge and hopped down, pleased as punch.

I guess I'm going to hell. But I still think it's assault and battery.

[theologygeek]

I know spanking is legal in some US states

Spanking is legal in every US state.