March Editorial Winner

'Sparing the rod' may be best for children

Cherokee County residents can be thankful we’re not represented by State Sen. Shane Jett, whose philosophy calls to mind images of dank dungeons filled with chains, leather straps, iron maidens, and agonized screams.

Jett last week was railing against a bill that would prohibit corporal punishment for disabled students in school. Using Old Testament scripture, he insisted that beating a child is a godly act, even if the child is so severely impaired the punishment is incomprehensible.

Corporal punishment, especially for disabled youth, is a topic on which legislators have wasted their time – and our tax dollars – for years. For a rational individual, the issue should be a no-brainer.
In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled using the “board of education” isn’t precluded by the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.” The robed ones, as they are wont to do when they want to avoid controversy, left it up to the states. But since then, several states have decided paddling is a draconian measure that isn’t especially productive. Mental health experts widely agree that by striking a child, an adult is sending the message that using physical violence against others is acceptable. There are better methods of discipline, they say.

Oklahoma was headed in the right direction. In 2017, a law put the kibosh on corporal punishment involving pain for children with severe cognitive disabilities. Then in 2020, the Oklahoma Department of Education barred schools from using “physical force” on any disabled student, but the measure failed to pass the muster with our wishy-washy, self-serving politicians.

Senate Bill 364, spearheaded by Republican Dave Rader, again attempts to cement the ban on corporal punishment for students with “federally protected disabilities,” but as usual, a crackpot leaped into the limelight with warped interpretation of biblical tenets. Jett asked whether Rader’s measure “aligns” with Proverbs 22:15, which advises that one who spares the rod will spoil the child.

Jett had this to say: “This is a top-down, socialist-aligned, ideological, unilateral divorce between parents’ ability to collab-orate with their local schools to establish a disciplined regimen that includes corporal punishment.” Here we go again, blowing that old “socialist” dog whistle, which has no connection with the matter at hand.

Jett would be better served by pointing to the Gospels, which do not recommend physical violence against children. When this subject has come up before, we couldn’t find a single parent who would sanction paddling a child who might not under-stand what’s happening or why, and who would be profoundly terrified rather than chastened. But why are we sanctioning corporal punishment against any child, must less a blind, deaf, wheelchair-bound or autistic one, when the science proves other methods are more effective?

Jett’s claim that parents are being deprived of their rights by this legislation doesn’t wash. If parents want to spank their kids, they can do so in the privacy of their homes. Just as schools should not be forced to tolerate the infusion of religion into their curricula, they should not be involved in a punitive procedure that could violate the consciences of teachers and administrators.

Jett should be ignored by other lawmakers, and the people of his district should not spare the rod on him at the voting booth.