I wanted to take a moment and point you to an article in Mother Jones that you may find a bit disturbing.
While there are at least two sides to every story, I am having trouble relating to the need to use "pain" as a way to control human behavior as depicted in this story. While I enjoy the "pain" of a five mile run and 400 sit-ups, I never learned much from being spanked in school. The article focuses on the use of shock therapy (as opposed to prescripted medications) and other "strategies and tactics" utilized in the treatment of mentally handicapped students at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center.
While the school has a litiguous history associated with mental and physical abuse cases, it has apparently served some students and family well (or so certain family members report).
This article is guaranteed to raise an eyebrow or two and is well worth sharing with colleagues in terms of discussing the management of student and instructor behavior.
Keywords: abuse, autism, behavior management, handicapped, Judge Rotenberg Educational Center, learning, Mother Jones, motivation, shock therapy, special education, teaching
Comments
What a dreadful story! I couldn't read past the end of what is apparently page 1 of 6. I know that corporal punishment is a thorny issue, but I have seen wonderfully happy, loved children from homes that spank and miserable, neglected children from those that don't... and of course, vice versa. For me it's about balance. I used to have a sticker on the light switch of my children's bedrooms with a picture of a scale to remind me to consider my praise/scold balance for the day and to make peace with them if there were any outstanding issues. I am also of the view that words can do infinitely more damage than wooden spoons (or whatever).
But for me this goes beyond discipline. This is punishment-without-love. Perhaps it came later in the story, but there doesn't seem even to have been the mitigating factor of reward to counterbalance the punishment. And with or without reward, this is abuse, pure and simple.
I can not believe that citizens of the United States of America are allowing very troubled children and adults to be tortured. Even during the Middle Ages such cruelty would have been considered obscene. Where are Hillary Clinton and the other Presidential candidates and why are they not taking a stand against such horrendous treatment? Has there been an outcry from Amnesty International? The Kennedy name comes to mind in this State, and in the State of California via Maria Schriver's mom, for their great work with the Special Olympics. Why are their eyes and ears now closed to the dreadful goings on at the Rotenberg center, and others like it as mentioned in Ms. Gonnerman's article? Who remembers the Stanley Milgram psychological/sociological experiment on authority? If not, then it would explain a lot if one were to read about it. This article describes a situation which is a classic example of that experiment. Only in this situation the medical, legal, educational, political and spiritual communities, together with the misguided families and all of us who do nothing to help, are the subjects who Mr. Israel et al manipulates into inflicting great damage on defenceless protesting victims - whether by commission or ommission. This is a classic in the study of obedience to authority. And those in a position to help these poor wretched victims, do nothing but continue to blindly obey the shrewd, cunning and snickering Israel. AMAZING! I thought the American people were brighter and more humane. The bottom line is that torture and abuse are being condoned and allowed to fester in the U.S.A. Won't anybody step up to the plate and help those poor souls?
An extensive response to Ms. Gonnerman's article can be found here: http://www.judgerc.org/ResponsetoGonnermanArticle.pdf
Matthew L. Israel,Ph.D.
Executive Director
Judge Rotenberg Educational Center
www.judgerc.org