Uncategorized | Aug 17, 2009
Beating students legally and other news
By Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
Beating students legally and other news
By Angela Watson
Hitting autistic students is apparently a valid intervention method:
The use of corporal punishment is (still) legal in 20 states, and children with disabilities get a disproportionate share of the whippings. [The New York Times]
Harry Potter probably needed Prozac:
J.K. Rowling’s series paints an unrealistically blissful outcome for a child with a traumatic childhood, which may somehow underscore the need for educators to pay more attention to depression symptoms in young children. [The Early Ed Watch Blog]
Lingerie is a back-to-school staple:
At least according to the state of Virginia’s school supply tax holiday laws, which are geared toward helping merchants more than cash-strapped parents. [TLN’s A Place at the Table]
A&E ‘celebrates the public school teacher’ by paying Tony Danza to act like one:
Rather than filming a reality show about real teachers, a 10th grade English classroom will be taken over by the former “Who’s the Boss?” star. [Yahoo TV, hat tip to A Truth Universally Acknowledged]
Paid training in how to post your Facebook status updates at school:
Some districts are spending limited professional development resources to train teachers in basic internet skills. Assuming that taking a “Which Golden Girl Are You?” quiz is actually a skill. [The Tempered Radical]
Angela Watson
Founder and Writer
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It is disgusting to think that children with autism can legally be beaten as an intervention. My daughter has Asperger's Syndrome (very high functioning autism) and I had an autistic child in my class last year. I can't imagine how hitting them would ever help any of the issues they face due to something that they can't even help.
I teach in Idaho and am surprised to see that it is legal here to hit a student. I am appalled. I am glad however, to see that the state I'm moving to this week it has been banned. Whew!
@Sunshine and @CandyandLadybugs: I'm not surprised that out of all the weird news, that first story hit you hardest. With the politically correct school environments most of us work in, it's hard to imagine that corporal punishment is still an option somewhere in our nation's public schools. It is actually legal in Florida (but not in the districts in which I've taught, which are urban). Amazing.
I can't even ask a student to sit by me for a minute on the playground to calm down and think of a better way to handle an inappropriate response, I can't imagine being able to hit a child, autistic or not!
And why are we letting classrooms be taken over by actors in the name of entertainment? Geez!
LOL at that your last comment about Facebook, Angela!!!