This week's column
You've probably seen it by now.
A braided 5-year-old who defied her teachers is handcuffed and arrested by three St. Petersburg, Fla., police officers. On videotape.
It's hard to decide what is scariest about the incident, which has been replayed over and over on national TV:
The need for police to play disciplinarian in any kindergarten.
The chaotic, destructive behavior of the little girl and her absolute disregard for the authority of her teachers.
The mother's reaction, in which she expressed understandable outrage at her daughter's handcuffing but zero acknowledgment that, for whatever reason, her child was out of control, hitting teachers and ripping posters off bulletin boards.
Or, most disturbingly, the lack of general shock in the nation that such a thing could happen in the first place.
While the incident made for juicy footage gleefully rewound by itchy fingers on TV news shows, the sad fact is, stuff like this happens. More and more.
And not just in Pinellas County, Fla.
Welcome to the Piedmont Triad, where a middle school student so thoroughly disrupted a school bus that the bus returned to the school grounds, where a campus police officer subdued her with pepper spray. The mother hired a Greensboro lawyer.
Or a school bus whose occupants were so rowdy that the driver made a bee-line for the police station, whereupon the students even defied police officers.
Or such widespread problems with fighting, discipline and lack of respect that we are holding town meetings on what to do about it.
We are sending children to school with bad attitudes, poor home training and in some cases, an implicit license to fight for their rights, even when they are wrong.
That's the only reason I can fathom that the Reidsville police chief wants an OK to use electric stun guns, brand-named Tasers, for school discipline, even when there are serious concerns that the weapons could prove fatal.
Or that a fair number of presumably sane adults could endorse the idea in an admittedly unscientific but still disconcerting News & Record online poll.
Tasers are raising questions now because people have died in some instances in which they have been used to subdue police suspects.
Critics allege that Taser use is responsible for nearly 100 deaths across the country.
In light of that concern, Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center has begun the largest independent study to date of the stun gun's effects and potential danger.
The study's preliminary results will be released by the summer of 2006.
Meanwhile, the International Association of Chiefs of Police has issued a national bulletin urging law enforcement agencies to re-examine their stun-gun policies.
In light of all this, the Greensboro Police Department has suspended the use of Tasers pending the study's outcome, even after a six-month trial, in which the devices received favorable reviews.
Better to be safe than sorry.
After all, the whole idea in using Tasers is to seek a safer alternative to shooting suspects who need to be subdued.
Other methods have been tried, including guns that fire high-impact bean bags and pepper spray, which, quipped one retired school resource officer, seems to work better on police than suspects.
The sudden debate over Tasers carries with it a troubling central irony: The top police officials here began pondering the use of Tasers several years ago as a way to lower the number of fatal police shootings with firearms.
My best guess is the enthusiasm for something, anything, that can produce safer schools reflects the frustration with rotten kids whose parents have fed their misbehavior.
Remember, the mother of the Florida 5-year-old had warned Pinellas County school officials not to dare touch her daughter.
Time was when teachers and neighbors had an implicit license to discipline others' children as they would their own.
Time was when communities were built on that kind of trust and familial closeness.
Try that now and you'll get sued.
Yet our frustration doesn't mean we ought to go around jolting kids with unproven devices.
Although it's still tempting to zap an unrepentant parent or two.
Comments (10)
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Teach your kids to "ack-rite". Jesus, if I could do it ANYONE can. I taught my kids it was ok to question authority as long as they did it in a respectful way. I also taught my kids that if someone in a position of authority, ie: anyone with a gun or a badge challenged them to submit. We are very lucky it was only pepperspray. The kid could of been shot and killed.
As for handcuffing the 5 year old, well, maybe that was a bit much, but the kid was definately out of control, and maybe she needed to be tested for a self contained classroom? Obviously she was acting out, maybe it was due to what is going on at her HOME?
Posted on May 2, 2005 10:13 AM
As a prospective Kindergarten teacher, I understand the many challenges that I face as far as dealing with kids with varying personalities. However, this does not "scare" me away from wanting to become a teacher. I strongly feel that this is why a lot of teachers are driven away--dealing with discipline within the classroom. Of course teachers are no longer given the authority to offering "spanking" to misbehaved children, but teachers should definitely enforce some form of discipline.
I feel that getting the police involved in this particular situation was a little too much. Every time something goes wrong, people just are quick to call the police. It is obvious to me that this girl has some type of emotional/behavioral problems that require proper home training/punishment and maybe even counseling. This girl was only 5 years old! To me, being that young and getting arrested would give a negative impression that would stick with the child!
Teachers should just expect to face dealing with problem children, but learn to be more patient and not always quick to just call on the police.
Posted on May 3, 2005 7:32 PM
Airreia: I appreciate and admire your passion for teaching. We need more like you.
I agree that some teachers and administrators may be too quick to call police in some situations, but not this one.
The little girl had displayed horrific behavior for a long period and the school had called her mother first but the mother took too long to arrive.
Meawhile, the misbehavior escalated. Maybe the girl should have been isolated in some way; I wonder (amateur psychologist that I am) whether one of her motivators was a thirst for attention.
Having said all that, I still believe parental support for school personnel is essential. It was clearly missing here. This child has serious issues and the mother seems oblivious to them.
Posted on May 3, 2005 7:44 PM
"This child has serious issues and the mother seems oblivious to them."
I agree with Allen.
Posted on May 3, 2005 7:57 PM
Lilly, Your kids were lucky to have a mom who loved them enought to discipline and teach them. As you have seen in another thread some parents equate love with letting kids do what they want without fear of consequences. That's not love, it's lazy IMO.
Clearly this child doesn't have a mother who has taken time to teach and discipline. It is apparent, from all that has come out about the mother, she is a sorry excuse for a mother.
Still, I think the school did the right thing. Had a teacher tried to physically restrain the out of control child, the teacher would have had to defend his/her position in a court of law.
It seems to me this is the rule rather than the exception. Parents defy teachers almost as often as their unruly children. They whine about teachers "picking" on little precious. If they admitted it was the kid's fault it would be a negative reflection on them. So kids bad behavior is never their fault. (Manure, I say!)
Now for a little levity. What does a cannibel make out of a politician? Balonga sandwichs.
Posted on May 3, 2005 9:10 PM
Yes, this child has serious issues. Nevertheless, decry as we might the shifting landscape of parent involvement in which we find ourselves, schools must respond accordingly for the sake of the children in their care. The fact that her mother is not providing the love this child needs in order to grow is so painfully evident by the child's emotional disengagement and her grandstanding for attention. Tough love and tender understanding from the teachers would have helped this girl as much as heavily rehearsed 'techniques'.
I hope, Airreia, that you are prepared to love them as much as you are to teach them.
Posted on May 3, 2005 9:17 PM
Oh come ON Michael, get real. Did you see the video of that child? She was totally out of control. I can see it now, *said in a very loving way* "sit down sweetheart", "you need to sit down and sit still", etc.
That child was in a crisis, she was having a total breakdown. No amount of "love" would of been able to stop it. If we dig further, I bet we would find the child has very serious emotional and mental issues.
Talk to some teachers who teach mentally and emotionally handicapped children. Find out how they deal with kids like I suspect this child is.
Sure you gotta love them, but you also have to protect yourself and others around you from an out of control child. Handicapped or not.
Posted on May 4, 2005 9:43 AM
"Totally out of control?" Did you watch the same video I did? I'm afraid that little girl was totally IN control - of the teachers, her environment AND her parents. THAT is a sign of a child whose emotional and physical life has had no boundaries and who is seeking the same. Boundaries come from parents and teachers who care enough to provide them. That care comes from love and that is the point I am trying to make. Notice, please, I said "tough love". The point of my whole comment is that whether or not the parent is unwilling or unable to supply the love this child lacks, teachers must start from that perspective NOT from the perspective of a traffic cop.
Posted on May 4, 2005 11:30 AM
Just going to point out something, since I wrote about this a LONG while ago... (seems like weeks ago)... no matter what you do as a teacher (and I'm not defending those since I've seen both the cut and uncut footage), I believe that teachers and school administration has their hands tied when it comes to disciplinary action.
When I was a kid, I know that if I did something wrong at home, I'd get a spanking. Teachers wouldn't dare do that in the US, but I've heard from my parents that Asian teachers used to be more harsh than my "spankings" *laugh*
While the hands are tied, I don't truly do not think that the police need to get involved unless the 5 year old happened to be on LSD or something that gave her tremendous strength (maybe that was PCP... it's been a long time since that first DARE class I took decades ago).
All in all, because of the red tape of school administration and not enough information, this is a very touchy issue since without knowing the background of the child, and we're all just stipulating what "might" happen and what "could" happen. Well, the sky "might" fall too. *grin*
Posted on May 4, 2005 1:15 PM
Ben, As you pointed out teachers cannot lay hands on children or risk being sued. So how do you restrain an out of control child so they are hurting no one, including themselves, without touching said child? You deal with the crisis, then decide how to prevent it from happening again. I still say the teachers were wise to enlist the help of those who are trained to handle out of control people, even if they are only 5 years old.
Posted on May 6, 2005 1:40 AM