Barbarism In America

I spent yesterday morning crying onto my keyboard and I'm posting this after a great deal of hesitation because it's so damned upsetting. But I think everyone needs to be aware that it is apparently legal in the US to torture school children. (You'll have to watch a commercial first.)

(Update: Apparently, this video is not playing for some of you. Here's the direct link to the ABC website.)

What's wrong with people? This is not therapy, not even in the loosest use of the word. Electric shocks, solitary confinement, stuffing people in bags, beating a person until he dies: this is abuse and torture. I would be appalled to learn these things are happening in prisons, to adults, but we're talking about school children, most of whom, apparently have special needs. The report uses the word "barbaric." That's the word I would use too.

I understand that this is a report from the mainstream media, notorious for sensationalization, but no one is denying these things are happening and a quick internet search reveals thousands of other documented cases, from reliable sources, of these things happening. And still, the American Association of School Administrators, as reported here, is standing in opposition to federal legislation that would make this kind of abuse illegal. I doubt they're standing alone. What's wrong with people?

How did we get to a place in which a boy can be beaten to death by his "teachers" (how else do you explain cardiac arrest in an otherwise healthy teenager?) simply because he wants to keep playing basketball? In what universe does it make sense to spend thousands of dollars to install padded cells in classrooms in order to confine 11-year-old girls? How in the hell can it be okay to stuff an autistic middle schooler in a bag?

I think the report does a good job of raising these questions. I want you to watch it and pass it on.

To me the core of the problem is this: there are still people in this world, perhaps a lot of them, who believe it's not just acceptable, but proper, for one person to control another, defending themselves with the most dangerous phrase in the English language, ". . . for their own good." Take the example of the boy who refused to stop playing basketball when his "bosses" commanded him to. We already know he's a special needs kid. He's not hurting anyone. He's not hurting himself. He's shooting baskets for god's sake. When that escalates into a beating death, it is not the fault of the child. It is the fault of the people who believe that they have a right to force him to do their bidding. It's the fault of people who are using the cover of something criminally labelled "therapeutic" to brutally punish a child for refusing to obey. Maybe, maybe, someone in this process tried to actually speak with the boy, to ask him, for instance, "What's wrong?" or to seek some sort of agreement with him like, "How about another 10 minutes, then we go?" Maybe, but what I saw in that video escalated so rapidly that if someone did make efforts to treat the boy like a human being, they didn't give it much of a chance.

And even if they had done everything in their power to persuade or cajole or reason, using and failing in the use of all the most progressive interpersonal techniques, and even if he still defiantly refused to leave the basketball court, who do they think they are to respond by slamming a kid against a wall and wrestling him to the ground? What rationale can they possibly have for that? The only one I can think of is, "We have to maintain control." Really? He's playing basketball and you can't have that in a gym at a school? Please.

But what will the other kids think if they see him "getting away" with it? Maybe they'll think he's a kid with special needs and part of that is a little more basketball. Maybe they'll feel like they should get to play a little more basketball too. It's basketball! Let's all play for another 10 minutes. It's a hell of a lot better than beating a kid to death.

Maybe instead of viewing adults as their jailers, they'll instead see that the adults in their lives are there to listen to them, to ask questions, to work out agreements with them, and, you know, treat them like human beings. Instead, what these special needs teenagers learn is that if they do stand up for themselves, a gang of bigger, stronger people will force them to do their bidding; that they, like this poor dead boy, are no better than prisoners subject to the control of others.

Or how about shoving an 11-year-old girl into a windowless, sound-proof padded cell? Prisoners report that the worst punishment they can receive is solitary confinement. It literally drives people insane. Torturers throughout history have relied on techniques like these to "break" their victims. Or what about putting a boy into a bag? Oh, but this is therapeutic; it's a place to safely vent. BS. Did you listen to what those kids had to say about their experiences? Did it sound like they felt safe? Of course not. They felt afraid and anyone with even an ounce of empathy can understand that. Every one of them agreed that it made them feel angrier, not calmer. Does anyone really think that isolating or binding an emotional child, especially an emotionally out-of-control 6th grader, is therapeutic? Again, it's clearly not about helping kids, but rather about control, punishment, and "teaching them who's boss."

But what about the other kids, what do they learn if these kids "get away" with their behavior? Really? This is what we want to teach? This is what will happen to you, should you make the mistake of having an emotional meltdown: we'll terrorize and humiliate you by locking you in a padded cell where no one can hear you scream, or perhaps we'll just crudely shove you into a bag. Is this what we want to teach children? I was unable to find information on how much one of those "scream rooms" cost, but I'm guessing it's tens of thousands of dollars. How about, instead, we spend that money on real therapy?

I don't have all the answers, of course, but I do know that this is wrong. First, let's stop torturing children. Let's stop teaching children that they are to be controlled by bigger, stronger people. Then we can talk.

Please pass this video on. People need to know this is happening, legally. It must be stopped.

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