Opinions wrote:
The real problem with paddling in American schools isn't so much the
paddling as who does it. Teachers in America no longer come from the
family next door. Administrators are even more remote.

What an absurd collection of drivel! It's okay for the family next door
to hit kids, but not more remote individuals!

(snip)

Almost all certified teachers still in the classroom today have been
indoctrinated in the virtues of no-spank. It is a rite of passage, a
quasi-religious catechism to be recited as if one is an eternal
brainwashed neophyte not to be trusted with any other thoughts. The
bright ones figure out that no-spank is a crock!

The bright ones know how children best learn, grow, and develop. They
are able to choose guidance and discipline strategies that are
compatible with this knowledge. The less than bright ones use the
simplistic and damaging method of hitting children in the name of
discipline because they do not employ more complex thinking that would
result in appropriate and effective discipline practices that address
both long and short term goals for children.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that children imitate
their role models. Hitting models violence. States that allow school
paddling have some of the lowest test scores in the nation, along with
the highest rates of violence.

The whole paddle by proxy junk is contained below. I advise readers to
look at the ridiculousness and fallacy of this post.

LaVonne

Despite the impersonal nature of American public education, some good
teachers are able to build a rapport with parents. Not surprisingly,
many are both experienced teachers with solid educational credentials
as well as functional parents. As gifted communicators, they are
equally at ease talking to parents and students as they are to
administrators and other teachers.

One disciplinary strategy employed by experienced parent-teachers is
paddle by proxy. In addition to phone calls and other contacts, these
teachers will sometimes have the classroom miscreant participate in a
traditional parent-teacher conference.

Truly erudite teachers get the kid to explain the chronic and
disruptive behavior problem to the parent during the conference. Even
the most reluctant parent realized at that point it is unlikely that
the teacher is making things up or picking on her poor innocent child.

As the conference proceeds, the teacher explains the constraints placed
on her by the school board as well as the limitations of the methods
that she is permitted to use in the timeframe in which she has to use
them during the school day. While students are quite aware of the
various dead ends in public school discipline, parents are frequently
woefully ignorant.

As the conference proceeds, the teacher shifts gears. She stops
talking like a know-it-all and starts talking like a parent. Sometimes
directly, at other times circuitously, the teacher nudges the parent
toward the idea of paddling the kid.

Surprisingly, after some initial shock, the idea of a spanking is not
always to which the kid objects once the parent and teacher come to an
agreement. For some children it may be the first time in their lives
that 2 adults agreed on anything concerning them!

Although there is no set formula for these things, by the time the
teacher finishes, all participants in the conference have reached an
understanding on the state of affairs.

One retired teacher and her family run a website that teaches parents
both how to spank and how to defend themselves against the
feminist-dominated child welfare Schutzstaffel.

Another former teacher told about teaching a type of spanking known as
*layer cake* to parents of elementary age students. Layer cake is a
series of mini-spankings separated by the parent reasoning with the
child.

A third teacher went public. She told a reporter during an interview
that she had discovered that most of her school's troublemakers were
kids who were not spanked. This teacher recommended parents spank kids
when they misbehave at school.

Another elementary school teacher admitted that, despite her childhood
education training and spending a small fortune on counselors, she
finally solved her daughters' behavioral challenges by explicitly
following the directions printed on a souvenir paddle she bought on a
lark while vacationing. Although peers at first thought she had lost
her mind, the teacher recommended that other parents follow her
example!

These teachers represent a quiet rebellion of experienced teachers,
many of whom are parents, that is undermining noisy no-spank rhetoric
that is often delivered by childless idealists or those still haunted
by miserable childhood memories. Often they are lead teachers and
mentor teachers on whom schools depend for organizational memory and
internal stability.

Given the current state of affairs in the classroom, especially given
the high rate of turnover among new teachers unprepared to survive the
disaster of the public school classroom and the desperate need for
competent classroom management, paddle by proxy may be the new trend in
school discipline.