One to Grow On
This story reminds me of my experience with paddling and corporal punishment in our education system.
Well, at least, the education system it used to be before mesh backpacks were necessary, before dress codes and parents going to jail for not sending their kids to school (and/or assuring that they actually stay there throughout the day). Hell, when I was a kid we just called those kids deadbeats. Now they get their parents in trouble. From what I recall, that would do nothing but encourage those kids to stay out of school. They were notorious parent-haters.
But, back to my point:
When I was in kindergarten I got in trouble for knocking down a huge wooden block castle that most of the other kids were working on. The teacher, Mrs. Snodgrass, wife of the Phys Ed teacher and resembling a female version of the Smurfs nemesis Gargamel but with long black hair, ushered me out into the hall with a paddle.
She then proceded to hit me three or four times with that paddle, and of course I cried and hated it, etc.
It was only later that evening during my nightly bath that my mother discovered the bruises on my behind. And, needless to say, she was livid. She called the school, screamed at the principal (Mr. Sullivan) and the next day had a meeting with him.
They called me into the office after they had spoken awhile and I had never been in there before. It was an ominous, strange place, smelling of aftershave and filled with awards, certificates, and pictures. The man in question sat behind his desk, hands folded, and my mother told me what to do:
?Turn around and pull down your pants.?
What?! There was no way I was going to moon the principal in front of my mother of all people. Even at five years old, I?m not that out of it.
?Uh?mom,? I protested.
?Go on,? my mother insisted. She was still livid, and was anxious to display the evidence. So down the pants went. My face, literally burning red, looked at the opposite wall.
Most of the bruising had faded. There were slight red marks where they had been. I recall the principal saying something about the possibility of those being caused by the slide in the playground, and my mom went off somewhere around then.
I don?t remember the specifics after that point, but I was moved into the other of the two kindergarten classrooms, to Mrs. Rose?s class, a lady who taught me my 3rd grade year as well. She was a wonderful woman and was always kind to the kids in her class. I felt sorry for the kids having to suffer with Mrs. Snodgrass.
The point of that story is not to highlight my mooning the principal of my elementary school (though, you have to admit, it was a great story to impress my childhood friends), but to highlight the misuse of corporal punishment in the school system as we know it. Of course times have changed, greatly so in fact, but I do believe that paddling is not a bad thing. One bad apple isn?t enough to spoil the bunch, and my future paddlings were not only deserved, but probably didn?t occur often enough based on my behavior.
I was paddled many times in middle school, and by high school that had graduated to in-school detention. I always saw in-school detention as a mini-vacation, as you got plenty of time to read and do your work. I would finish my work in an hour or so, then read Stephen King or Orson Scott Card all day long. Where?s the punishment in that?
Now the Memphis school system has to magically create millions of dollars to fix a problem that didn?t need fixing. There comes a point in each parent?s life when they must stand up for their kids, many times in fact. But corporal punishment never seemed like one of those to stand up, fight, and spend time and energy making an expensive mess for the school system that their child will be leaving in a few short years.
Mrs. Snodgrass deserved to be stood up to. And I?m glad my mother made me show my ass to the principal. But that doesn?t mean that all paddling is inappopriate, or that a few bruised behinds aren?t worth the improvement in behavior they can bring.
And it doesn?t make sense
I should fall for the kingcraft of a meritless crown
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