We Beat You For Your Own Safety
One of the most grating claims of ageist individuals is that the laws that deny young people freedom, equality, and civil rights are only for their own protection. That the status quo is one of respect and dignity for youth. To challenge the system as it exists will only put young people in danger - their freedom would endanger them, it is claimed.
One of the most glaring examples of their duplicitous reasoning is the support among many for corporal punishment. Often in my work, corporal punishment is very low on our list of priorities. Not because of a lack of importance, but because it seems so obviously barbaric and inhumane that I often fool myself into believing just a few fringe sections of society still practice it. Every so often I am confronted with the sad reality that it is not a fading peculiarity, but for many youth a constant, brutal reminder of the oppressive society we live in.
This article prompted me to address the subject. What is striking about it is the victim of this paddling happened to be an 18-year-old student - legally an adult. After a paddling that landed the young woman in the hospital, she is suing the school. This statement by her lawyer bothers me:
“This case is not about a crusade against corporal punishment,” said Dan Hargove, her attorney. “It’s not a crusade against charter schools. … This case is about three adults holding down an adult female and beating her with a wooden paddle so bad that she ended up in the hospital.”
Why is it any less of a crime if three adults hold down an 8-year-old girl and beat her with a wooden paddle so bad she ends up in the hospital? Or a 13-year-old or 17-year-old?
Forgive me if I wander, but this issue gets me so mad I can’t think straight at times.
Our system of preferential treatment of adults is of no protection and no worth to youth. It creates a class of voiceless victims to brutality. The law protects this young woman because she is 18. The law has no protection for her 17-year-old classmates. They have no recourse, and no newspaper prints articles involving the brutal beatings they suffer.
Next time a person claims the current system of age restrictions is done out of love for children, and for their own protection, show them pictures of the brused and bloody victims of that protection. Those who suffer physical punishment of such form are not safe. Those who have no legal recourse to stop it are not safe. Those whose lives exist entirely in the hands of adult authorities who justify violence in the name of love are not safe.
It is often said we in the youth rights movement pretend young people and adults are the same in every way and ignore real differences between the classes. I am not one to pretend no differences exist. Children on average are physically smaller, physically weaker, and less able to defend themselves than adults. Why then do our laws protect the bigger stronger adults from violent beatings and not those in most need of that protection?
January 31st, 2005 at 12:43 am
Beautiful.
January 31st, 2005 at 10:08 pm
Alex,
Very well written and convincing. I agree that such behavior is unconscionable - and unfortunately fairly widespread. The problem isn’t only relegated to teachers but - as you said - all adults, including parents.
Many people don’t seem to realize that it’s not okay to beat people, even if (and ESPECIALLY if) they are your children or your students.
February 1st, 2005 at 2:35 pm
Well actually I think the laws against child abuse are much stronger than for other abuse, because of the fact that children are more vulnerable. The problem is that they can be hard to enforce, because we often don’t find out about these problems before it is too late, when the child needs to be rushed to the hospital. You have the same kind of problems with husbands abusing their wives. The husband think that their wives are property. We have to let parents know that they have no right to beat up their kids and we have to tell kids that it is never justified for a parent to beat them up. There is nothing wrong with spanking a child, but of course beating is wrong, and corporal punishment should not be used at all in school. The problem is where do you draw the line between a light spank and a big whack. Well I’d say if the spank should be done with a hand and should not leave an impression. Then it’s alright. Anything more than that is abuse.
February 1st, 2005 at 10:21 pm
woot! I read this.