Spanking in Public Schools

I came across this article in the New York Times this morning about how disabled students are spanked more.

I wouldn't necessarily consider myself disabled, but I had an incident as a first grader where my teacher spanked me for no good reason. As a result of my JRA, it is harder for me to sit criss-cross-applesauce as was customary to do in our class. My teachers had been informed on what was going on with my body. Unfortunately, one of my teachers either didn't understand or didn't care.

We came in from recess one day and I was exhausted. Instead of coming in and sitting the customary way on the floor mat, I had my legs to the side of my body, which I could usually get away with in my other class if we sat on the floor. This even hurt, so I laid down on my side on the floor. A classmate tried to warn me to sit the right way, but I told her how much it hurt and that I just couldn't do it. Then the teacher came in. She was a middle-aged woman from Japan who had happily moved to the northwest in order to teach at this Japanese-immersion school. She was very upset that I was not following the rules. I tried to explain to her how painful it was to sit the normal way and how tired and achy my poor little body was. All she seemed to care about was that I was breaking the rules and then being argumentative about it. So she lifted me up by one arm and preceded to spank me in front of my classmates.

She put me down and told me to sit the right way. I was crying so hard between the embarrassment and the pain in my bottom and my knees as I bent them to match the other kids.

For kids who can't follow the rules because of physical limitations or for those who don't quite understand the directions, spanking is a terrifying experience. I was in terrible pain to begin with, but to have to go through being spanked and humiliated in front of my friends as well as having to bend my knees - the thing I was trying to avoid because of the pain - was not only annoying but ridiculous as well. Any sort of physical punishment should be outlawed in our schools. Teachers are people too - people who lose their temper or misunderstand situations. We should be able to put a certain amount of trust in them, but trusting them to physically punish our children correctly is a mistake and one that can scar someone for life.

Forget About Feminism

Some Muslims are moving way past equal rights. There are a handful of Islamic punk bands popping up around the United States. Their music is charged with current events and politics.

This is awesome.

(Also, this is the 250th post!)

Healthcare

I'm not following the latest on Obama's healthcare reform plans. I've just become so uninterested due to how the different news agencies and reporters/writers are handling this. I can, however, tell you why I would support nationalized health care.

I've talked several times about my Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthrits (JRA/Still's Disease) on this site and my other blog. With this as a pre-existing condition, any insurance I would be able to buy privately would require me to work 80+ hours a week and wouldn't really cover anything substantial.

I get insurance through school, yes, but it's enough to cover a visit to the school nurse... and enough to help me pay 80% of a regular doctor's visit (provided that they accept the insurance). Don't even think about dental, vision, or specialty docs like rheumatologists.

All the things going on with my sister right now would have been even more terrible had she not been able to qualify for BadgerCare. She had to have an appendectomy over the weekend. Without having the insurance, I'm sure that her appendix would've exploded and she wouldn't have been able to get help until things got dyer, if then.

And if that didn't do it for you, maybe this story will.

Sooo

My sister went to the emergency room last night with appendicitis. I haven't really slept super well since. We brought her home around 3:30 or 4 o'clock this afternoon. Any time that I have slept since we got into her room around 3 this morning was because of low blood sugar and exhaustion.

So exhausted. Blech.

I Got A New Job

Working at a car dealership! It'll be so nice to get out of Kmart :)

In sad news, I just heard John Hughes died :(

I Can't Wait

The Time Traveler's Wife comes out in theatres on the fourteenth. I am so excited that nothing else seems to be all that important right now. For the past few hours, I sped read through the first 100 or so pages of the book (care of Google) as well as read quotes.

I think I'm kidnapping my boyfriend, who made me read the book, to go see the movie on opening weekend. It's a moral imperative.

Put Protesters On Trial You Say?

Yep, that's what Iran is doing right now. News reports say they are cracking down on the opposition, but if you've been following this at all, you know this is just a continuation of the abuse of the people. Ahmadinejad is going to be sworn in again in just a few short days and it seems as though this tough approach against the people will not let up anytime soon.

*sigh*