Corporal punishment against students with disabilities bill fails

Brut America

A Republican lawmaker faced pushback from some members of his own party over a bill that aimed to ban corporal punishment against students with disabilities in Oklahoma schools …

Transcript

00:00Proverbs 29, the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.

00:10So that would seem to endorse the use of corporal punishment.

00:15So it tells us that if you will not use the rod on a disobedient child, you do not love that child.

00:24That's what the book said.

00:25That's how one lawmaker argued against a bill in Oklahoma

00:28that would have banned corporal punishment used on students with disabilities in schools.

00:32Representative John Talley proposed the bill,

00:34which would have banned hitting, paddling, spanking, slapping,

00:37and other physical force as a form of discipline against students with disabilities.

00:41We should be voting on special needs kids not being spanked.

00:47The Republican lawmaker, however, faced backlash on the measure

00:50from some members of his own party who cited the Bible in their arguments.

00:54Somebody mentioned American Pediatrics thinks that it's a bad thing.

01:00I beg to differ, and I have a greater authority.

01:04God is a greater expert than all of the self-professed experts.

01:12Why don't we stick with God's word?

01:14Other lawmakers fought and supported the bill,

01:16with some touching on their own personal experiences.

01:19But at 37 years old, I struggle very much with the things that my mother did by using her hands.

01:26My mother used chopsticks to slap my back so that I would listen to her.

01:32She'd pull my hair so I would listen to her, so I would behave.

01:37A child needs to go someplace safe, and you'd hope that would start at home.

01:42And God bless the children who go home who have parents who hit them

01:46and use the Bible as justification.

01:48Under current policy, in school districts where corporal punishment is allowed,

01:51parents of children with disabilities must sign a waiver to allow for it.

01:55Although the bill was favored 45-43, it ultimately failed

01:58because it did not obtain the majority of 51 lawmakers it needed in order to pass.

Category

Transcript

Recommended