Corporal punishment for students or even disabled students has long been a topic of debate, and now that a bill is seeking to scrap the old teaching method, some are vehemently opposing it. Oklahoma State Senator Shane Jett– a Republican, is among those opposed to banning corporal punishment for disabled students, and he even supported one of his arguments with another old teaching method, specifically from the Bible.
Senator Jett’s statement came from the debate on Tuesday in Oklahoma regarding the Oklahoma Senate Bill 364, which seeks to prohibit corporal punishments for disabled students. The Republican lawmaker quoted Proverbs 22:15 along with other verses from the Christian Bible and even followed up his arguments with how banning corporal punishment is a socialist ideology, something supposedly bad according to Senator Jett.
“‘Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.’ In Scripture, it’s uniformly applied to everyone.
This is a top-down, socialist-aligned, ideological, unilateral divorce between parents’ ability to collaborate with their local schools to establish a disciplined regimen that includes corporal punishment.
It is in violation of Scripture and ideologically aligned with socialist ideology that should not be part of this body’s legislative initiatives,” according to Senator Jett during the debate, courtesy of Newsweek.
So it goes without saying that Republican Senator Jett is in favor of hitting and beating disabled students as a form of teaching or punishment in schools. Jett’s religion-fueled opposition, however, was in vain because Senate Bill 364 was passed already with a 36-16 vote. The bill has now moved on to the House for further consideration.
Surprisingly enough, Senate Bill 364’s author was none other than Oklahoma State Senator Dave Rader, another Republican much like Jett. Their political party didn’t seem to prevent the disagreement, of course, with Jett still opposing the bill and debating Rader on the spot.
In fact, Rader himself answered some of Jett’s Bible verses with his very own, responding to the latter with some quotes from the Scripture:
“‘There are going to be times when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we won’t have to fear evil because your rod and your staff comfort me.’
Not all discipline needs to be one-way and to deal with special needs takes special discipline,” posits Senator Rader.
A Win for the Disabled Students of Oklahoma
Regardless of Jett or Rader’s stances on the matter, the bill has moved on from the Senate’s hands and is closer to becoming a law in Oklahoma. Corporal punishments toward disabled students could soon be outlawed, at least in one state.
Senate Bill 364 specifically seeks to ban school personnel from using physical discipline on students with federal protected disabilities. Some of the protected disabilities include autism, deafness, blindness, emotional disturbance, intellectual disability, speech or language impairment, visual impairment or an orthopedic impairment, among many others.
It’s not the first time lawmakers tried to pass such a mandate protecting disabled students, however. The Oklahoma Department of Education even prohibited schools back in 2020 from using physical discipline on disabled students. Sadly, this earlier prohibition failed to pass into a state law.
Meanwhile, other US states will each have to create and pass their own specific laws for such matters because the US Supreme Court didn’t include corporal punishment in the Eighth Amendment’s prohibitions, so there’s no federal law against it.
