4th graders who flunk reading in Idaho town have faces marked
DECLO, Idaho (AP) - A fourth-grade teacher in southern Idaho is being criticized after having her students use permanent markers to draw on the faces of classmates who failed to meet reading goals.
Some parents and administrators say the punishments given to nine students in Summer Larsen's class were inappropriate and left the children feeling shamed.
Cindy Hurst said recently her 10-year-old son came home from school Nov. 5 with his entire face - including his eyelids - scribbled on with green, red and purple markers.
"He was humiliated, he hung his head and wanted to go wash his face," Hurst told The Times-News of Twin Falls. "He knows he's a slow reader. Now he thinks he should be punished for it."
Larsen, who has taught at the school for six years, didn't respond to requests for comment. But Cassia County School District Superintendent Gaylen Smyer confirmed what took place in her classroom, though he didn't name Larsen.
The students were allowed to choose their own incentive to meet the reading goal, but instead of a reward, the class chose a punishment: Students who failed to meet the goal could either stay inside at recess until it was met, or have their faces written on by classmates who met the goals.
Nine students didn't meet the goals, the paper reported Friday. Three chose to forgo recess, and the other six chose to have their faces marked on.
"Although all the students in the class agreed to the incentive, once it occurred it was not so well received. Nor should it have been," Smyer said.
LeRoy Robinson, who has two grandchildren who had their faces marked for failing to meet the goals, said the punishment was bullying. The children had their faces marked in the morning, and were told to leave it on all day but to wash it off before they went home, Robinson said.
"Other kids were asking them about it and laughing at them," he said.
Robinson's wife, Karla Robinson, said the ink was hard to wash away and most kids couldn't get it off their faces, leaving them embarrassed - especially when they had to ride the bus home with junior high and high school students.
Some parents were supportive, however. Karla Christensen, whose daughter met Larsen's reading goals, said the teacher was just trying to motivate students.
Smyer wouldn't confirm whether the teacher faced any disciplinary action, but parents said she was absent from school for the next few days, returning to the classroom Nov. 12.
Some parents and administrators say the punishments given to nine students in Summer Larsen's class were inappropriate and left the children feeling shamed.
Cindy Hurst said recently her 10-year-old son came home from school Nov. 5 with his entire face - including his eyelids - scribbled on with green, red and purple markers.
"He was humiliated, he hung his head and wanted to go wash his face," Hurst told The Times-News of Twin Falls. "He knows he's a slow reader. Now he thinks he should be punished for it."
Larsen, who has taught at the school for six years, didn't respond to requests for comment. But Cassia County School District Superintendent Gaylen Smyer confirmed what took place in her classroom, though he didn't name Larsen.
The students were allowed to choose their own incentive to meet the reading goal, but instead of a reward, the class chose a punishment: Students who failed to meet the goal could either stay inside at recess until it was met, or have their faces written on by classmates who met the goals.
Nine students didn't meet the goals, the paper reported Friday. Three chose to forgo recess, and the other six chose to have their faces marked on.
"Although all the students in the class agreed to the incentive, once it occurred it was not so well received. Nor should it have been," Smyer said.
LeRoy Robinson, who has two grandchildren who had their faces marked for failing to meet the goals, said the punishment was bullying. The children had their faces marked in the morning, and were told to leave it on all day but to wash it off before they went home, Robinson said.
"Other kids were asking them about it and laughing at them," he said.
Robinson's wife, Karla Robinson, said the ink was hard to wash away and most kids couldn't get it off their faces, leaving them embarrassed - especially when they had to ride the bus home with junior high and high school students.
Some parents were supportive, however. Karla Christensen, whose daughter met Larsen's reading goals, said the teacher was just trying to motivate students.
Smyer wouldn't confirm whether the teacher faced any disciplinary action, but parents said she was absent from school for the next few days, returning to the classroom Nov. 12.
The students were allowed to choose their own incentive to meet the reading goal, but instead of a reward, the class chose a punishment: Students who failed to meet the goal could either stay inside at recess until it was met, or have their faces written on by classmates who met the goals. Nine students didn't meet the goals, the paper reported Friday. Three chose to forgo recess, and the other six chose to have their faces marked on.
READ ABOVE WHAT HAPPENED AGAIN^
Is everybody not reading what happened? ^ The students that had their faces drawn on CHOSE to have their faces drawn on. They could have stayed in the class and missed a recess to meet the reading goal. They chose what they thought was the 'easy' way out. If they didn't reach the reading goal, the choice of staying in class to study or to be humiliated was THEIR choice!  That is ANOTHER lesson to learn... make good choices!!!  In my day, the students that didn't turn in their homework, misbehaved, etc, etc, would be held 'after school' in detention to be punished or make up work. If my kid came home with his face painted and I found out it was because he didn't want to study, I would be upset at my CHILD for not making the smart choice. Hopefully I would have taught my kid to have better smarts than to choose to have his face painted on. Apparently, this teacher has been teaching for several years and I bet her students are above average in the system. Unless these students are 'mentally challenged', they should have learned that choices have consequences and not that Mommy will bail them out. Also, remember that the kids were given the chance to wash their faces prior to getting on the bus or walking home. Again... what kid would leave the marking on their face unless they didn't care if they were made fun of. Hellooooo parents! Put yourselves back in your childhood and remember how it was to be a kid. Would YOU choose to have your face painted OR would you study. AND  if your choice was  to goof off, would you go home and advertise it to your parents by coming home with your face painted? Hmmmmmm, that says alot!
This is really, really bad! So wrong that I can't even begin to explain it.
 @Bell Lee I have stated before - many times - that some teachers actually encourage bullying and USE bullies to help "control" other students. In fact, I believe that school bullies - as often as not - learn that behavior from abusive teachers. This case - wherein the teacher actually encouraged other, more-favored children to assault their classmates - seems to prove my point. School anti-bullying measures will FAIL until schools very consistently FIRE teachers who physically or verbally abuse students or who encourage students to physically or verbally abuse or ostracize other students.
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Honestly, we could learn a lot from the Finnish school system, wherein students are taught to work in teams and to encourage one another at every level.
I'd like to see Summer Larsen go before the board of education in Idaho and explain how she deems shame based education is an effective way of motivating kids and making them have any desire what so ever to learn. Then having had that conversation video taped It should be shared with her school staff, students and parents so everyone can better understand where she's coming from and any kids assigned to her class next fall have an opportunity to beg their parents to get them a varience to another school Idaho needs to pull her certification to teach before she harms anyone elses child! Bullying and being shamed as a child is something many adults never recover from and it impacts their sense of self their entire lives! Summer's photo should have been included with this article so her community can see whom the article was written about and encourage her to seriously consider another career choice.
I don't know why anyone would send their kid to a public school any more. Just home school them so that they get the education they deserve without all the nonsense of having to put up with mentally retarded teachers like this and all the junk that goes on with bullying kids and such. Public school just never seems to improve no matter what we do.
 @Blindman  Saying all public schools are bad, are like saying all people are bad.  There are several good public schools, although many are not.
Not only is this a disgusting attempt at "motivating" children, the children who carried out the task learned a huge lesson - it's okay to bully, demean, disrespect, and deface others just because they missed a goal. Hopefully Summer Larsen will have to work for one of these children some day, and they can use permanent marker on her face when she doesn't meet a goal. I wouldn't quit until this teacher was fired.
That's the most horrible thing I have ever heard of. Someone should mark the teacher's face for not being a very good teacher. I would pull my kid out of that class in a heartbeat. Fire her. There are plenty of other good teachers out there that need a job.
WTF is wrong with people? This "teacher" should be fired and never allowed to teach again. Not only should children not be singled out for not doing well but it is the teachers fault if a student does not do well. The teacher failed to find a way to get some students to learn yet she wants to punish them for not meeting goals even though they tried their best. If I was the parent of one of these kids I would have gone down to that school and let her and the principal have it. The principal should be fired as well for failure to properly supervise his subordinates.
"Criticized"? How about FIRED AND JAILED???!!! Writing on someone's face or body with permanent marker is ASSAULT!!!
 @JLS1950 Take your meds and calm down. Good lord. Was it wrong? yup....but your reaction is why we live in such a litigious country.Â
 @k_did  @JLS1950 Calm down? Any physical contact that is not wanted and not a clear accident can be charged as assault. If they forced a child to be colored on, that's an easy assault case. Yes, I am aware of the fact that this article claims the students agreed to the terms, however there is plenty of precedence that at this age, they cannot make certain decisions by themselves. If I was one of the parents I would be talking with a lawyer.
No kidding, I love the lynch mob mentality that comes from this board. While this was obviously a wrong thing to do I can think of much better stories for lighting the torches and slip knotting a rope. But then JLS1950 always is a drama queen.
 @SgtPepperSpray Suggesting termination and arrest of a person in a position of trust for committing what is clearly a crime and an assault is HARDLY being a "drama queen". Do you take the same position about the school janitor or bus driver with the sex-offender status as well? I doubt it. We fire them before they even commit any new crimes - yet this teacher has evidently committed a felony upon a 9-year-old.
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(And we wonder where the 9-year-old boy in Illinois learned to beat a 14-month-old toddler to death!)
As a homeschool parent, I can assure you I "socialized" my children alot better than this !!!
If these claims are indeed accurate, this is extremely poor judgement by this teach at the least, and likely outright bullying of her students. What absolute garbage!Â
I smell a nice juicy lawsuit coming. Â It is America after all, you can sue for anything and everything.Â
 @John F. I would sue the pants off of them, and I AM a teacher.
 @John F. I smell a teacher who should be in JAIL!
This is cruel child abuse and discourages learning. I'm a retired special reading teacher and have worked with many children who have reading difficulties. Most of them work and try very hard but get discouraged and scared and finally many finally just give up. They may act as if they don't care but that is a self-defense mechanism. Punishment of any kind is the very worst thing to do to them. This teacher is an incompetent bully who should be fired. She should never again be turned loose in a classroom of helpless children, and their parents should make sure she isn't.
I don't know, maybe I'm someone who should have been in your class but, your post took some "Special Reading" on my part just to get through it.
That definitely is BULLYING!!!  I sure hope the teacher learns from this one through her own humiliation and, hopefully, discipline!  If that were my kids teacher, I'd do everything in my power to get her fired!
 @Ma_Kettle Wah!
My intial response for this wouldn't be suitable for print.
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I believe ALL children CAN learn. I absolutely HATE schools/government that "think" by giving teachers a "script" to teach from - whereby every teacher teaches from the same script (this happens in my district) that all children will be programmed like robots and meet benchmarks/goals at the same exact time
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Well guess what? they are humans, not robots.
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Just as toddlers learn to walk at different times, children learn to read at different times. As adults on the job, does it really make a difference if you learned how to read at age 5 but your co worker didn't read until age 10? no.
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C'mon people. Let's encourage children to be the best they can be. Not BULLY them when they come up short. And drawing on kids faces was just that -- BULLYING into shame.
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Shame on the teacher. Shame on the administrator. The classmates have learned it's okay to make fun of their peers like this. Shame-shame-shame.Â
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Terrible for the kids who have reading disabilities! My kids had reading disabilities from day one, I had to take my kids to be evaluated by a psychologist etc. Turns out they had the worst reading disabilites the doctor has ever seen. My heart goes out for these children. Being mocked and made fun of by the very people that were suppose to help their students. My heart goes out for the parents who like myself had to "cry myself to sleep most nights" Trying to figure out how to help them. I finally had to find an attorney and take the school district to court. Not for money, but for better services for my special ed kids. Praying for the kids affected by this..
 @linda thompson I know exactly what you mean. My son was in special education and we had to fight for extra help, even though it's state law that the school has to provide it if you ask for it. The school districts won't lift a finger unless you are on them 100% of the time. It's hard enough when you are raising a special needs child, without the school districts dodging their responsibilities.
Where were the principal and other teachers during the school day that these kids sustained this public shame, scorn, and humiliation? Because all these "educators" obviously neither said, nor did anything to stop it,  they share duplicity. These are elementary-age KIDS-----not adults enlisted by choice in some cult!!!!  (It reminds me of baby chicks pecking the weaker ones to death.) Parents need to ask themselves if  these people should be entrusted with our children? I have a grandson who spends hours each schoolday evening at home, trying to keep up with his peers. In spite of all his hard work, he continues to fall behind and feels so ashamed and inferior. Even though it would be very physiologically beneficial for him to have his recesses, he has been denied it everyday because he can't meet his reading goals in spite of his extra work and help at home. If he were publically humiliated as these students were, we would never be able to get him to return to school----and he's a very respectful kid and good citizen.
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To all those cheery folks who have supported this heinous act with their "kind" comments: You would have done well in in Hitler's regime or in the Jamestown leadership. May you spend your lives with your struggles and shortcomings plastered on your pathetic faces. I honestly have pity for you and your simplistic view of life.
 @fight for right I couldn't agree with you more. But, a reading disability doesn't just show up in 4th grade. Where were his teachers and school district during his previous 4 years? All those teachers are accountable, as well. But none so horrendous as this 4th grade teacher, who not only doesn't know how to help this child, but should be fired for bullying her student, as well as the shameful act of condoning it to her students.
Unless some "cages are severely rattled", many of these students receive minimal help if any, and are merely passed on each year to become increasingly farther behind, frustrated and demoralized. This is especially true for the higher-functioning, nevertheless, struggling students. By middle school, the kid has given up and most likely becomes a behavior problem and/or "drops out". I agree that most of these kids struggle because of disabilities of some type---something they were BORN WITH. If proper intervention occurs early enough,  many of these kids can emerge ok. But there are many who receive little, inappropriate or no intervention who eventually, in desperation to feel normal, will just cave and reach for the nearest "feel better" drug---ESPECIALLY if bullied or blatantly singled-out as being different at school. I have to wonder if this "teacher" would encourage the same  "face painting" of a child with one leg if he couldn't keep up with the fastest runners in his grade.
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The message is the same to the painter, the paintee, and everyone who sees the punishment and does nothing---This public humiliation telegraphs in a most extreme manner: "You're different. You're not 'normal'. You are a loser." It teaches that bullying, rather than understanding, is the way we should interact with those who were dealt more challenges in life. These kids shouldn't be coddled. But they MUST BE UNDERSTOOD AND HELPED!
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We the People need to demand that each child be educated according to his/her needs, not the negligible needs of the brightest students. If our schools can't educate the ones who need help the most, then IT IS NOT EDUCATION!!!
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This "teacher", and those allowing it to continue throughout the day, need to reap what they have sewn. And we, as citizens, need to be certain that happens.
 @Yadayada  @fight for right What is sad is that some children's reading disabilities aren't discovered or diagnosed until high school. They are labeled as lazy, rather than people taking a good look at WHY they aren't doing so well.
I spank my kid.  I don't coddle my kid. But, if he came home from school because some teacher did this, I would have to really hold back to not be going up on assault charges for throttling a teacher... The only people allowed to lay hands on my kid are my wife and I. There would CERTAINLY be a HUGE lawsuit, and, I would demand a criminal investigation.  Â
 @ButtercupSprinkles When my kids were in school I put it in writing that if a teacher or any adult laid a hand on them there would be a lawsuit, that if they had a problem with one of my kids to let me know and I'd take handle it. You are a bully yourself for spanking your kids. You're teaching them to be bullys, that might makes right.Â
 @SeaUrchin79  @ButtercupSprinkles I see my generation, and I see the current generation. My generation was spanked and taught respect, responsibility, and that life wasn't fair. There were no trophies for "effort" gold stars for trying. Yes I do understand we need to encourage our children, but we certainly shouldn't coddle them. The current generation of self entitled, poor me, everybody's out to get me attitude is just sickening. There is very little personal responsibility these days. It's all "I deserve the new iPhone, etc". When I was growing up, if I wanted something I earned money and bought it myself (save Christmas/Birthday). I applaud the parents who are still teaching their kids morals, responsibilities, and respect for authority. Responsible parents and authorities need to be properly respected.
I agree with most of what you say:  Many kids today are just plain spoiled rotten and have no expectations nor consequences set by their parents. However, if I'm understanding you correctly, you infer that these subject children most likely deserved what they received? I guess we need to consider if it is reasonable to assume that all these "marked" kids are immoral, irresponsible, and disrespect authority? And even if they were all these things, was this "motivation" really likely to do anything positive? (And no, I'm not a "bleeding heart".)
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We need to realize that we are living in a decaying and dying society---you can fill in the indicators-of and reasons-for same. But, it would be good if we could also remember that struggling students with learning disabilities (struggling meaning they give 100% of what they have) do not deserve to be treated in this, or any demeaning manner. My struggling student has been taught at home responsibility, repect for authority, accountability, morals, etc. Yet he still struggles academically in school. He has been taught that 100% is expected, life is not always fair, and giving up is not an option. Is it an honest assessment, however, to assume that all these kids are just spoiled, under-achievers? The students who received this judgement at the hands of their peers and the direction of their irresponsible, disrespectful "teacher" were, at the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM, disrespected. Bottom line: One does not teach respect by being disrespectful or allowing disrespect. This needs to be understood at home AND at school.
I have to agree with Buttercup. Your kind of reactions lead to nothing but disrespectful kids that grow up to be disrespectful adults, unless you are extremely lucky.
Stop this PC crap about spankings, and being your kid's "friend" people!
You have your friends and your kids have theirs, your job is to be a parent.
@SeaUrchin79  No, I'm not a bully. I'm a responsible parent that uses lawful force to teach my child that there are consequences to his actions. It is my right as a parent and under the law to use reasonable force to discipline my child. It's people with attitudes like yours that create individuals that have no respect for anything.
Maybe if the teacher would put as much effort into helping the kid learn as she put into coming up with bizarre punishments, he wouldn't be failing...  Our public schools are pathetic.
 @ButtercupSprinkles Though I agree with your sentiments regarding this particular teacher, my kids have had some great public school teachers (and yeah, a couple not so great ones... including one I went into a conference and made a significant "course correction" with). I guess my take home points are that there are indeed some great public school teachers, and regardless of whether your kids are public or private schooled... an inactive parent is a detriment to their child. Know what's going on in your kids class
This teacher should be fired and the Union should NOT stand behind her. My granddaughter 3rd grade just got a reading award for reading at 6th grade level...We were very proud but I was also proud of the principle who explained to the kids that not everyone was getting an award today....but everyone was capable of getting and award and with some hard work he would like to see the whole class receive a reward....don't you think that would make someone want to work harder than getting their face painted for under achievement?
Adult supervision required. Â Fire the teacher.
This is wrong in so many ways. I disagree with the people who complain that generations of the past learned more from this type of behavior. First of all, this type of punishment has been rejected on so many levels and by so many people as being detrimental to development. Second, children these days are dealing with vast amounts of different information that past generations can't even fathom. Reading is not just for literacy. They test accuracy and comprehension at speed rates. "Slow readers" are not allowed. Algebra is begun in the third grade. Computer literacy is required for all facets of education. My 9 year old is in the midst of a six page essay with MLA citation. Don't tell me about, "we learned more because we were better discliplined". These kids are the ones who are getting hit in the head with homework, no time to even be kids anymore, so they can pay off the debt, solve global warming, and find the cures for grumpy old men who should know better.....
 @Rennie LOL, Thanks Rennie, I appreciate this post on so many levels.......but I think "grumpy old men" disease is terminal........
Oh, boo hoo! The poor babies. What is this world coming to. The coddling of kids, the low expectations, the lack of accountability, the lack of discipline and high expectations! When I was a kid they would sit you in the corner and put a "Dunce Hat" on you, And if you stepped out of line, you got paddled in front of the class, and you know what, kids learned and achieved high levels back then. And you want to sue to the school and the teacher for trying to get the kids to try and learn! No wonder the US is near the bottom in education. All you sue-happy, "oh the poor babies" bleeding hearts who care more about your babies little feelings than seeing that they get a rigorous education! No wonder this country is going down the drain. Stupid Americans!
 @SensibleLogic You're just flat out wrong. The kind of treatment you recommend for kids is child abuse and will most definitely cause lasting psychological damage that will manifest itself in any number of negative ways, including being cruel to others.
@SensibleLogic I would like to see you while you're wearing your dunce hat and getting a hack. Better yet, why don't I just mark up your face while you are wearing that dunce hat and getting an hack. My reasoning is..... You have failed more then once in your life time, therefore you should be marked, humiliated and punished, because in your words, it's ok to do that to people. Welcome to the world of stupid American(s); "stupid is what stupid does"
@SensibleLogic FYI, your "higher achievement levels" seemed to have failed you in writing class when it comes to when to use a comma or run-on sentences. Maybe you should have worn that "Dunce Hat" more often or gotten the punctuation rules beat into you.
@SensibleLogic Oh, please! Catch up with the times! It's not the coddling of kids nor is it the lack of discipline that has made a difference in the education children are getting nowadays. Sure kids achieved higher levels back then but its because teachers actually cared about children succeeding. If a child didn't meet the standards, they were held back. Nowadays children are just passed on to the next grade because NO ONE CARES ANYMORE. It's all about the lack of funding now.
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Humiliating a child or paddling their butt had NOTHING to do with higher achievements. That was just the form of bullying back then. There are other ways (MORE SUCCESSFUL) ways of helping a child to succeed. Fear is NOT one of them.
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Next you'll be saying you had to walk 5 miles uphill in the snow each way to get back and forth to school.
 @Tattooed_Angel  @SensibleLogic "you had to walk 5 miles uphill in the snow each way"
Oh, poo! I did 10 miles each way! <GRIN>
 @OrcasThunder  @Tattooed_Angel  @SensibleLogic Mine was uphill both ways!Â
@OrcasThunder You forgot to add that the teacher would chase you with that ferocious paddle all those 10 miles so it could count for physical education credits! LOL :)
 @SensibleLogic Well, if you took three whole seconds to think about it rationally instead of lambasting all of American like a bitter old coot, you'd know that scientific studies have proven that shaming and corporal punishment are detrimental to achievement and mental health, and is probably the reason you're generation has been responsible for so much of what is wrong with America...
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 @SensibleLogic  @IlBrutto13 I really have to think you are just trolling... Honestly...You'd have to be an idiot to be serious. Please tell us it's all a joke and you really aren't the idiot you claim to be
 @IlBrutto13 Actually, there is no such proof, only self-serving so-called "studies" that are anything but scientific, and conducted by idiots like you who are out to create what you want to see. Most kids are spanked today...almost all were in past generations, and most turn out just fine, and we also had a much better society then than we do now. Your flunky "Dr Spock" psychobabble has produced nothing but decay in our families, our schools, and society as a whole. Not to mention the you conflict with yourself. It's your modern, bleeding heart nonsense that has produced our current world. What we had a few generations ago, and due to what I described, was much better than your modern idiot views have turned us now into. Thank you very much.
 @SensibleLogic  @IlBrutto13 I'm part of the generation in which they phased "out" corporal punishment in school, dunce caps and sitting in the corner so people could make fun of you. I didn't learn from being bullied or shamed by authority figures, and I didn't achieve high grades. I just tried to avoid being publicly ridiculed and assaulted, while having state-mandated and regulated religion forced down my throat.
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My parent's generation--the children of the fifties (that "perfect world") got serial divorces and had crazy mid-life crises. The fifties were not perfect and produced it's own fallout.
 @SensibleLogic Ah, so science is only right when it proves your point, but wrong when you disagree? Yes, racism, segregated schools, mass corporal punishment, lack of student, parent, or teacher accountability, public shaming of people for things that are out of their control, low life expectancies, lack of safety regulations, low wage jobs that literally killed the people that worked in them. That sounds like a paradise.
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Let me let you in on a secret: Most kids aren't spanked today. I never was. And I'm pretty successful, but it's no use arguing logic to the illogical, so I hope you cheer up enough to start loving yourself and your life.