Republicans in Oklahoma had the chance to ban corporal punishment against students with disabilities but failed to pass the bill today, partly because one legislator said beating kids with special needs was biblical.
Oklahoma currently permits corporal punishment in public schools. That’s a problem in and of itself, but the law at least has a carve-out exempting students with “the most significant cognitive disabilities.” Teachers can theoretically spank kids, but a handful of students are off-limits.
House Bill 1028, sponsored by Republican State Rep. John Talley, was designed to broaden that exemption to all students with disabilities. GOP State Rep. Anthony Moore signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill precisely because he thought this would be an easy vote. “There’s going to be nobody who’s for corporal punishment on students with disabilities,” he said.
He must have forgotten that other Republicans from Oklahoma surround him.
They will always find a way to defend abuse in the name of Jesus.
State Rep. Jim Olsen argued earlier today that the Bible permits hitting a child as a form of discipline, therefore, that option must be available to teachers.
Oklahoma lawmakers have rejected a bill that would have banned corporal punishment for kids with disabilities in schools. Jim Olsen (R) cites Proverbs in rejecting the ban: “The rod and reproof give wisdom. But a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”
Who cares. It’s the Bible, and he’s a legislator. We don’t need to run policy ideas through his favorite book.
Olsen later cited Proverbs 13:24, the infamous verse that gave us, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”
And what about the American Academy of Pediatrics, which supports banning any form of physical discipline against children because there’s plenty of evidence showing the harm it causes in the long term?
Olsen didn’t care.
“God’s counsel is higher than the American Academy of Pediatrics,” said Olsen. “God’s word is higher than all the so-called experts.”
To paraphrase a famous line, Olsen acts like he placed his hand on the Constitution and swore to uphold the Bible. It’s supposed to be the other way around.
But the Bible wasn’t the only way a Republican defended hitting kids with disabilities. Another one said teachers needed the threat of discipline in order to coerce kids to do their bidding.
Rep. Randy Randleman, R-Eufaula, argued differently from Olsen’s against HB 1028. A child psychologist who often infuses religion into his medical opinions on the House floor, Randleman, this time, said spanking is almost always inappropriate but is sometimes called for. And he said teachers need the threat of corporal punishment to maintain classroom order.
“‘You can’t touch me.’ I hear that over and over. I don’t want to hear that in school,” said Randleman.
If your classroom is so chaotic that physical discipline is your only solution, you shouldn’t be a teacher. And if you think threatening children, special needs children with abuse, is the only way to maintain order, you shouldn’t be in a position of power. Yet here we are.
Today’s vote in the House favored exempting kids with disabilities from physical punishment in schools. That sounds like good news… but because there are 101 members of the State House, 51 votes are needed for a bill to pass. That’s why the bill was technically defeated. More than a dozen legislators were absent from the vote.
Because neither side had the majority, the bill may come up for a vote later in the legislative session. 10 Republicans have yet to cast a vote on this matter. At least a few would have to do the right thing for the bill to pass.
Democratic State Rep. Forrest Bennett put today’s vote bluntly: Good morning from the Oklahoma House Chamber, where a pastor and a psychiatrist (also legislators) are fighting *AGAINST* a bill banning corporal punishment for students with special needs.
“It’s 1880 in here” should be Oklahoma’s State Motto.
Incidentally, hitting kids has long been a core belief among fundamentalist Christians. Years ago, Michael and Debi Pearl wrote an infamous guide to faith-based abuse called; “To Train Up a Child.” It’s a book that tells adults how to hit their kids properly, and it’s recommending that Christian parents physically discipline kids as young as six months with “the same principles the Amish use to train their stubborn mules.”
In Oklahoma, this isn’t just theoretical. Corporal punishment is legal in the state, and school officials take advantage of that:
Oklahoma educators reported using physical discipline 3,968 times during the 2017-18 school year, according to the most recent federal data from the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education. The federal government reported that corporal punishment was administered at more than 1,800 Oklahoma schools.
Ultimately, the Sunday School teacher who routinely cites the Bible to defend horrible policies used his power to defeat a bill so that more vulnerable students could be hurt just a little more. He’s the sort of guy who wants to protect kids from learning about systemic racism while making sure teachers have the option to beat students with disabilities.
His Christian faith taught him that abuse is more important than compassion.