# Black Parents Demand that Catholic School Beat Their Kids? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 30, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515 "2011-03-30T15:18:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/101 "2011-04-05T13:41:04Z")
> [@Whambulance](#): > > Because its a far more important message to send to children that people from other cultures can step in and impose their way of life, culture and practices on you and your private school. It’s a catholic private school. A catholic bishop in charge of the catholic private school said the catholic schools the catholic bishop is in charge of won’t be doing corporal punishment anymore. As they say, if the parents don’t like it, they can just ‘take their business elsewhere’ can’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2011, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/102 "2011-04-05T14:19:27Z")
> [@Whambulance](#): > > Because its a far more important message to send to children that people from other cultures can step in and impose their way of life, culture and practices on you and your private school. > > Cleansing them of their barbaric ways may take dragging hundreds of individuals through the court system, dredging up as much negative press as possible and of course changing some of those pesky laws that protect their rights as a private organization, but at least I will sleep better over here in my state. “I’m not hitting my child-I’m preserving my culture!” ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/103 "2011-04-07T07:29:37Z")
> [@](#): > > **Anaamika** : Think about it. You are subject to the whims of your teacher. You have to be kidding. Teachers are subject to the whims of their Executive Principals. I’ve never known any teacher who had any choices about discipline if the principal chose not to back her or him up. A teacher can’t suspend a student, for example. In my schools we couldn’t even send them to in-school suspension. > [@](#): > > **Magiver** : I got smacked by a nun when I was in the 5th grade. Right across the face. It was for insulting a kid for being effeminate. She literally slapped the stupid out of me while reading me the riot act in front of everybody. You are clueless about the Catholic Church. Clueless. I know that the highest ranked college of education and human development in the country would shudder at such an “educator.” You would have remembered not to take that action again if she had burned a hole in your palm with a cigarette too. That doesn’t make such an action appropriate. Slapping someone across the face – or even cuffing her or him on the ear – can cause damage to the eardrum. As a professional, she should also have been aware that she shouldn’t humiliate a student that she is trying to teach. Furthermore, she didn’t slap the stupid out of you. Did she teach you why it was WRONG or UNKIND to insult someone for being “effeminate”? Did she do that in the presence of the other student you had insulted? ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/104 "2011-04-07T23:42:14Z")
If I understand this, people who generally believe in smaller and less intrusive government in the name of freedom think that there should be _more_ government-run _beatings_? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/105 "2011-04-07T23:47:36Z")
> [@sqweels](#): > > If I understand this, people who generally believe in smaller and less intrusive government in the name of freedom think that there should be _more_ government-run _beatings_? No, we’re talking about private, Catholic schools. (Not that that makes it a good thing) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/106 "2011-04-08T02:47:47Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > I wish corporal punishment was still available for me to pick as an option today for myself. I would much rather take a fast paddling than listen to a boss drone on about something negative for example. I don’t know how people imagine corporal punishment works but we aren’t talking slave lashings here. In practice, it is just ‘pop’, mild sting, blush. The end. Not that I didn’t get paddled a time or two in elementary school, but your example is exactly why the punishment should be tailored to the infraction and the guilty party. I don’t see anything too wrong with corporal punishment, as long as it’s neither casual nor anything other than the “nuclear option”, so that it’s considered dire enough to be something to avoid. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/107 "2011-04-08T03:00:27Z")
> [@Zoe](#): > > Did she teach you why it was WRONG or UNKIND to insult someone for being “effeminate”? Did she do that in the presence of the other student you had insulted? Yes. I got quite the dressing down in front of everybody. The lecture was short and to the point. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/108 "2011-04-08T11:23:54Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Yes. I got quite the dressing down in front of everybody. The lecture was short and to the point. Was the lecture before or after she hit you in the mouth? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/109 "2011-04-08T20:17:26Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > A nun hit you in the face in front of other children because she didn’t approve of something you said. Do you actually _approve_ of this method of “discipline”? How do you suppose most people would react if their child came home and said this happened to them in school. What do you suppose would happen if you did this in public with your own child? > You. Were. Beaten. Rodney King was beaten. **Magiver** was slapped. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/110 "2011-04-08T21:02:55Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Rodney King was beaten. **Magiver** was slapped. He was hit in the mouth. If a woman reported being hit in the mouth by her boyfriend to the police, and he said that he only _slapped_ her in the mouth, do you think they would accept that as an excuse? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/111 "2011-04-08T21:07:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > He was hit in the mouth. If a woman reported being hit in the mouth by her boyfriend to the police, and he said that he only _slapped_ her in the mouth, do you think they would accept that as an excuse? Not that that’s relevant but no I wouldn’t. As long as we’re playing the strawman game, if my son punches me in the arm would you say that I’ve suffered a beating? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/112 "2011-04-08T21:18:07Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Not that that’s relevant but no I wouldn’t. As long as we’re playing the strawman game, if my son punches me in the arm would you say that I’ve suffered a beating? How old is your son? Were you playing around with him? Are you trying to claim that the nun was giving **Magiver** a friendly tap in the mouth like it was a game? Get real-If hitting an adult in the mouth is something that can get you arrested, then common sense tells you not to hit _children_ in the mouth. This has jack-all to do with “spanking” someone on a padded bottom. I can only see it as abuse. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/113 "2011-04-08T21:26:04Z")
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t approve of nuns slapping students, but to insist that “You.Were.Beaten” to someone that doesn’t feel that way seems silly. Comparing it to spousal abuse is also silly. People in positions of authority are given lattitude that equals are not. I can spank my son, or could, he’s 18 now. I cannot spank my wife or co-workers. To be honest, I don’t know how hard **Magiver** was slapped. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/114 "2011-04-08T21:30:42Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Don’t get me wrong, I don’t approve of nuns slapping students, but to insist that “You.Were.Beaten” to someone that doesn’t feel that way seems silly. Comparing it to spousal abuse is also silly. People in positions of authority are given lattitude that equals are not. I can spank my son, or could, he’s 18 now. I cannot spank my wife or co-workers. > > To be honest, I don’t know how hard **Magiver** was slapped. If you slapped your child in the mouth in public, would you feel secure that you were in the right, or would you look around to see if anybody saw you? ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/115 "2011-04-08T21:51:31Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If you slapped your child in the mouth in public, would you feel secure that you were in the right, or would you look around to see if anybody saw you? I don’t know. I’m not a slapper. In fact, I once had a nightmare where I slapped my son and woke up shaking about it. Like I said, I don’t approve of nuns slapping students. I wouldn’t call the police on them either as I would if I had felt that my child had been beaten. If I had spanked my child in public I would feel secure that I was in the right. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/116 "2011-04-08T22:41:22Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If you slapped your child in the mouth in public, would you feel secure that you were in the right, or would you look around to see if anybody saw you? yes. What was done at my school would be appropriate anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/117 "2011-04-09T01:40:54Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > yes. What was done at my school would be appropriate anywhere. Please don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/118 "2011-04-09T01:57:15Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Please don’t. please don’t what? As a moderator you don’t seem to grasp the process of a debate in this thread. If you don’t like my opinion you’re certainly invited to respond but in this forum you’re expected to posit something toward the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/119 "2011-04-09T02:21:05Z")
If a child learns that a thing is wrong because violence will ensue, then the wrong lesson has been learned. Your parents were taught that violence was a teaching aid, so they approved of its use by your nun/teacher. You learned the same lesson from them _and_ her and see nothing wrong with passing the lesson on. You seek support from others that believe the same way, and from this violence prone group you get “wisdom” that tells you the problem is that there isn’t enough violence in our schools or home life. If it weren’t for a psychological quirk that stops me reacting violently to others I’d probably be one of your biggest supporters right now, because I was hit as a child, both at home and at school. kids I grew up with thought it was proper to fight to resolve differences, to prove who was better, to prove who was right in an argument, to defend their “honor”. They were taught that winning had something to do with being the last one standing, and some of them never learned other methods. They, like you, have inherited a hammer, and they treasure it so much that soon they see it as a tool that solves most problems. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515/120 "2011-04-09T06:10:34Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If a child learns that a thing is wrong because violence will ensue, then the wrong lesson has been learned. Your parents were taught that violence was a teaching aid, so they approved of its use by your nun/teacher. You learned the same lesson from them _and_ her and see nothing wrong with passing the lesson on. You seek support from others that believe the same way, and from this violence prone group you get “wisdom” that tells you the problem is that there isn’t enough violence in our schools or home life. If it weren’t for a psychological quirk that stops me reacting violently to others I’d probably be one of your biggest supporters right now, because I was hit as a child, both at home and at school. kids I grew up with thought it was proper to fight to resolve differences, to prove who was better, to prove who was right in an argument, to defend their “honor”. They were taught that winning had something to do with being the last one standing, and some of them never learned other methods. They, like you, have inherited a hammer, and they treasure it so much that soon they see it as a tool that solves most problems. spanking isn’t violent. It’s one of many tools available for discipline. None of my classmates exhibit the fantasy violence you portray in your head. That’s the difference between reality and make believe. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-parents-demand-that-catholic-school-beat-their-kids/576515.md?page=7)