Cherie Miller On Suspensions, Zero Tolerance and the Wood Shed
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When my husband Steve was in middle school he got caught one day sneaking off campus. The principal later called him to the office on the intercom. Punishment, a paddling, was in waiting and everyone knew it, so the students responded with an “ooooohh!”
This otherwise good student was suddenly famous. In one stroke of brilliance, and in one good spanking, he achieved what every other kid in his Georgia school sought — coolness — the very opposite of the school’s intent. Gone, mostly, are the days of paddling -- just as well, it didn’t seem to work anyway – replaced by more… prosaic punishments.