Board of Education

(Names in this piece have been changed not to "protect the innocent" but rather so petty people don't attempt to sue me for libel)


Ever sing the alphabet song as a kid as a way of learning your letters? For those whose first language isn't English, we Americans as children learned the alphabet by setting it to the tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" since we knew it already. At five I LOVED the alphabet song and found it fascinating that you could put letters together and make words. I loved reading in first and second grade. My father told me I was wasting money on school book fairs and mom would defend me and tell him to leave me alone. If I wanted a book mom would make sure I'd get it. Love ya mom.
                     Sadly 3rd grade would be the point where the alphabet betrayed me. The easiest way to make a seating chart for a room full of kids is guess what...the alphabet and unfortunately the alphabet seated me directly behind a kid named Phil (not his real name).  I LIKED school, but this would be the one year I can honestly say I wouldn't relive. Phil sat directly in front of me and one day he stood up in class and punched me in the face. I mentioned it to our teacher who might have been oblivious to the whole thing and her response wasn't "Phil go to the office!" or "Phil...hallway...NOW!" but rather "Jesse...no one likes a tattle tale."  Sometimes when we were working on assignments, Phil would turn around in his desk and simply glare at me.
                    This would be the part in this story where i tell you that Phil and I had some kind of history, like we had been friends and I broke his favorite toy or said something about his grandmother or something and he hated me from that point on. This WOULD be where that happened if it were in fact the case, but sadly it wouldn't be true. I had been indifferent towards Phil and simply regarded him as a kid in my class. I neither liked nor disliked him. I hadn't said ANYTHING to the guy and did nothing to antagonize him in any way.  For reasons I still don't know to this day he simply enjoyed hitting me. One rainy fall day, Phil simply stood up in front of my desk with his fist balled up. I ignored him as I always did, when without warning he flipped my desk sideways, straddled me as I was trapped in it then started punching me in the face without mercy. Our teacher who'd ignored Phil's treachery to that point finally moved in and yanked him off me. She told me to get up and then dragged us BOTH to the office.
                  I protested and asked why I was being dragged into the office and was told "WE DON'T FIGHT IN MY CLASS."  I tried to tell her that it wasn't a fight but rather Phil attacking me and she simply ignored me. The nurse gave me a huge icepack and and a Popsicle for some strange reason. Phil looked at her angrily and asked: "How come I don't get one?" He wanted to be rewarded for attacking me and surprisingly he was. Moments later we found ourselves sitting in the Vice Principal's office and she paddled both me AND Phil. I asked her why me and was given the simple one word answer "Fighting." I continued to assert my innocence. "Ma'am. I wasn't fighting him. I was sitting in my desk, when he flipped it over and started hitting me." My daring to speak offended her.  "Mr. Handy, you expect me to believe that he just started hitting you for NOTHING?"

"That's what happened." Phil just sat there brooding. When the Assistant Principal asked Phil why he hit me he growled "I just don't like him." The Assistant Principal told him he didn't have to like me, but was going to leave me alone. She then told both of us to say we're sorry, shake hands and go back to class. I looked at her and wondered how stupid she must have been and asked: "He hit me for NOTHING. Why do I have to say I'm sorry to HIM?" and was told

"Because I said so." To my credit I didn't apologize but rather extended my hand in defeat to give Phil the handshake I was being ordered to give when he reached back and punched me in the face again. The Assistant Principal immediately sent me and my ice pack back to class, paddled Phil again then sent him moment's later. When I returned to class we were working on something new called multiplication which the teacher REFUSED to explain to me and simply gave me a zero for being unable to do. For the rest of the school year, Phil would bully me and even had a couple of friends JOIN him in bullying me. Our ever supportive teacher simply told me that "no one likes a tattle tale" whenever I mentioned any of this to her.
      
In the fall when we made the transition from 3rd to 4th grade I learned two things I didn't want to know. The first was that alphabetically groups were to remain in tact and that Phil and I would be in the same 4th grade class and secondly, that we were going to be assigned to Mrs Blackmon's class. Mrs Blackmon, was short, loud and mean. All the kids were terrified of her. The way it worked back in those days you showed up at your 3rd grade class on the first day of 4th grade and your new teacher came to get you. When Mrs Blackmon came to get us the entire group's response was "oh no".  She let it be known that the only person who got a vote in her class...was her and that we would respect it and as we were already afraid of her we responded with a resounding "yes ma'am." One day 3 weeks into the school year, Phil stood up and walked over to my desk and stood before me with his fist at the ready. He started at me the way someone does when you owe them money when Mrs Blackmon said: "Sit down Phil." He ignored her. "Phil I said sit down." he continued to ignore her. what happened next would improve my school year and solve my Phil problem. Mrs Blackmon reached into her desk and pulled out an old worn, wooden paddle and said: "Let's go Phil."  She got another teacher as a witness and we could hear Phil being paddled in a nearby restroom. They re-entered class and Phil resumed standing in front of my desk even MORE angry. Mrs Blackmon told him to sit down again and he continued to ignore her. "This is the last time I'm going to tell you boy." she warned Phil. He ignored her again and was escorted back to the bathroom and was paddled again.  She sat Phil back painfully in his desk and told him that if he as much as looked at me for the rest of the school year that he would get more of the same.  He never bothered me again.
                 I can't help but notice that many of the discipline problems that exist now DIDN'T exist when corporal punishment was still in schools. Do I advocate physical abuse? No, but I witnessed two approaches being taken on Phil. Sitting and talking with him which had no effect whatsoever, the threat of physical consequences which proved to be effective. That's not to say that one practice is superior to the other. Some kids CAN be given a "time out" or  be "spoken to", others might benefit from someone attempting to give them a whack on the backside. For what it's worth, Phil never bothered anyone after that.