Thursday, March 4, 2010

"House Votes to Protect Pupils Against Abusive Discipline"

Kimberly Hatcher

English 122

B.Kern

March 4, 2010

www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/health/04restraint.html

This article was written to inform readers that the House of Representatives approved a bill to "restrict the use of forcible restraint and seclusion, in which children are held down, drugged or isolated in a locked room to control their behavior." (Carey,par.1) The bill is protecting children from abusive discipline while in public schools. If this bill becomes a law, which is expected, it will be effective for all schools that receive federal money. The article explained that children from preschool to high school had been victims in hundreds of cases of physical and/or mental abuse in schools. Many of these cases involved developmentally handicapped children. This information comes from a government report conducted last year.

I am completely shocked and livid that this abuse could take place in our schools. The only time physical restraint or seclusion should be allowed are in times of emergency when a student is endangering himself/herself or another person. This article is a wake-up call for me as a parent to pay more attention to the discipline techniques of my children's schools. A law regarding this issue should be passed as quickly as possible. I am almost positive that there are alot of parents out there just like me that had no idea that there was a possibility of physical or mental abuse being used as a discipline technique in public schools.

3 comments:

  1. I was not aware that these restraint methods were used in schools. This bill is to restrict the current practice? Under certain circumstances as you said, this may be necessary for the individuals own safety or the safety of others. These techniques however are usually only to be done by trained personel as a last resort. Certainly in the wrong hands these practices could become reckless.

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  2. This topic has been in recent media several times in the past few months. I think the federal law should apply to all schools as no child should have to suffer physical or mental punishment. Many children with special needs are treated in this horrible manner by people who are supposed to be caring for them. It really outrages me that this still happens.

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  3. This article about children discipline in schools did shock me. I want to be an elementary school teacher and could never imagine a beating a child. The paper I am doing this week is about child discipline. Physically or mentally harming a child only makes the situation worse.

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