To: 'ptave@nospank.net'
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2002 7:36 AM
Subject: PostcardI received a postcard from your organization in this morning's mail. Let me first say that I, too, believe that there are alternate ways to discipline children besides humiliating or harming them with a paddle. However, I think the postcard was in poor taste to even begin to compare what a teacher is doing in the name of
classroom management with what society deems as immoral and dirty. Granted, the teacher could find another method of discipline, but you could also find another comparison. If I was not in education, I would be even more riled by your comparison and probably oppose every lobbyist and legislator that was actually working for the good of the students. I liken your approach as that of a minister that drinks, swears, and cheats on his wife, and, therefore, sets religion back MANY years. Fight the battles, but do it in a way that doesn't do harm to all that educators do to gain the respect and trust of their students and parents. Don't turn those who already have a battle with educators even farther away. We all want what is best for our students, but we have to work TOGETHER to solve our downfalls in a way that doesn't turn our supporters or those who are on the verge of becoming supporters away.
Reply:Thank you for your letter which I've read closely. It brings to mind an incident that occurred about 25 years ago when I was distributing anti-corporal punishment flyers. This took place in front of the high school attended by one of my children. As I was giving flyers to students who were boarding school buses headed for home, a teacher approached me and said this: "I agree with your objectives, but not with your methods." When I asked him what methods he used, he turned and walked away. That was in New South Wales, Australia where I and my family lived for about 10 years. Since then, N.S.W. has quit beating schoolchildren. The change was in no small part due to the aggressive campaign for abolition that I, working with a few close friends, initiated. When I returned to the United States, I did exactly the same thing. I drafted and sponsored legislation to ban paddling in California public schools. It became law on Jan. 1, 1987. My methods of campaigning for that bill's passage were as blunt and straight-forward as my earlier methods in Australia and my methods today.
As for the postcard that offended you, is it more offensive than the actual beatings schoolchildren receive? Does it wound body and soul as much as a battering to the buttocks with a wooden board? Is our depiction on paper as "immoral and dirty" as the act itself? Is our claim untrue? I don't think so. In my opinion, your outrage is misdirected. So, I ask you now, as one reformer to another, the same question I asked that Australian teacher long ago, "What methods do you use?" If your methods are better than mine, I'll adopt them and be thankful.
Jordan Riak