COE Exchange

Screen capture of Newsweek's May 4th, 2009 article "The Principle and the Paddle"

A student in my doctoral seminar this semester alerted me a few days ago of the bald, unadulterated hatred on full display in the current issue (May 4, 2009) of Newsweek magazine (http://www.newsweek.com). Of course, I thought: public media regularly parades vitriolic rhetoric about and frightening images of various individuals, particularly those of color.¹ Yes, I had to admit, the magazine sported a terror-inducing photograph of a neo-Nazi child wearing the face of an acculturated racist.² What I was less prepared for, however, was an article about a white principal at a southern U.S. school who was a celebrated, if reluctant, spanker of recalcitrant children.³

True, the article revealed little about the racial composition of the principal’s school.  Still, the photo beside the title was filled with five young students of color (who, strikingly, were all holding their arms close to their bodies in guarded position).⁴  And the principal’s quizzical, perhaps embarrassed, mug with a buzz haircut was plastered on the SMART Board behind the students.

The school led by this white male principal and, supposedly, shelters these schoolchildren carries the name John C. Calhoun Elementary School.  Yes, the very name of the infamous nineteenth century U.S. Senator from South Carolina who proclaimed that slavery was a “positive good.”⁵ Wouldn’t the original John C. be proud?  His name-sake school utilizes a white overseer in the 21^st century to punish African Americans who dare to affront white sensibilities!

To be fair, David Nixon, the school principal who carried admittedly little administrative training, felt just awful about the force necessary to bring order to a school full of “chaos.” (42)  “I would…burn that paddle…if I could,” Nixon laments to the article’s author (42).  Some readers, instead, may suggest a burning resting point for Principal Nixon himself.

Other readers of this Newsweek article will be impressed by the rise in academic test scores that Principal Nixon has fostered at Calhoun in recent years through the draconian measures that include his spankings.  Nixon’s “fix-all” (44) for success has others concerned.  Nadine Block, an expert on school discipline, views Nixon’s tactics as improper policy, at the very least.   ”This is not a practice for the 21^st century,” she asserts.  Moreover, for scholar Block, “an atmosphere of fear…over time…does not work” (42).

Principal Nixon’s predecessors in South Carolina during the slavery era would strongly disagree with expert Block.  Fear works, even brilliantly, they would trumpet.  And those in the Jim Crow era might also suggest concern with this expert’s opinion – didn’t the Orangeburg Massacre in that state leave a decisive racialized message?⁶ Step out of line and you will be punished!  Principal Nixon, however regrettably, follows in very large footprints of generations of white South Carolinians to confront and squelch supposed African-American misbehavior.⁷

Left unsaid in the Newsweek article, tragically but predictably, is that this sort of racialized school discipline is altogether too prevalent in contemporary American urban schools.⁸  The school-to-prison pipeline originates in elementary classrooms like those at John C. Calhoun School (if not earlier in preschool settings).⁹ To a staggeringly perverse degree, American students of color receive extraordinarily harsh and disproportionate discipline in public schools.¹⁰ And this sort of criminalized targeting follows, even pre-conditions, the consequences of America’s horrendous, racially dichotomous, incarcerated demographics.¹¹

Astoundingly, as the Newsweek article contends, “corporal punishment is still legal in portions of 21 states” (42).  Perhaps, any mapping of this circumstance that might be accomplished would find a certain pattern of deeply racialized, concerted action.  Scholars have overlaid maps of late 20^th century legal execution sites with similar ones of early 20^th century lynchings; a near perfect match of geographical lethal harm to African Americans is revealed.¹² Might future research show similar spaces of school punishment meant for African American students?

Finally, as well, I must ask: when might we rid our schools of such racially tragic practices?  Sadly, but surely, I must answer, it won’t be soon enough for Principal Nixon’s students at the John C. Calhoun Elementary School in Calhoun Hills, South Carolina.

Footnotes

1. See, for example, Emily Hager, “Bullying Immigrants – Even in the Research Literature,” The Exchange (Blog of UMSL’s College of Education), April 9, 2009.  (http://coeexchange.com/?p=2363) [↩]
2. This photo accompanies the following article: Eve Conant, “Rebranding Hate in the Age of Obama,” Newsweek (May 4, 2009), 30. (http://www.newsweek.com/id/195085) [↩]
3. Eric Adelson, “The Principal and the Paddle,” Newsweek (May 4, 2009), 42-44.  (http://www.newsweek.com/id/195119) [↩]
4. Ibid. [↩]
5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_C._Calhoun [↩]
6. http://www.orangeburgmassacre1968.com [↩]
7. This sentence shouldco not be read to only indict white South Carolinians but also, more generally, most whites in the U.S. [↩]
8. See, for example, Jennifer Hernandez, “Urban School Security: Student Safety or Abuse of Power,” The Exchange, April 16, 2009.  (http://coeexchange.com/?p=2460) [↩]
9. See, for example, Jennifer Hernandez, “Educators’ and Lawmakers’ Collusion over the Expanding School to Prison Pipeline,” The Exchange, March 4, 2009.  (http://coeexchange.com/?p=1852) [↩]
10. See, for example, Jennifer Hernandez, “Review Essay: Urban School Policies and the Creation of Public Enemies,” unpublished ms, UMSL, 2009. [↩]
11. See, for example, Marc Mauer, .2003. “Comparative International Rates of Incarceration: An Examination of Causes and Trends.” The Sentencing Project: Presented to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. [↩]
12. Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, Race Course Against White Supremacy (Chicago: Third World Press, 2009), 60. [↩]

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