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From feelthesting.net... 🔥🔥🔥
On January 5th 1700 School teacher Robert Carmichael appeared before the court after causing the death of a pupil after punishing him.
The following passage is from Domestic Annals of Scotland 1695-1702.
A case of a singular character was brought before the Court of Justiciary. In the preceding July, a boy named John Douglas, son of Douglas of Dornock, attending the school of Moffat, was chastised by his teacher, Mr Robert Carmichael, with such extreme severity that he died on the spot. The master is described in the indictment as beating and dragging the boy, and giving his three lashings without intermission, so that when ‘let down’ for the third time, he ‘could only weakly struggle along to his seat, and never spoke more, but breathed out his last, and was carried dying, if not dead, out of the school.’ Carmichael fled, and kept out of sight for some weeks, ‘but by the providence of God was discovered and seized.’
‘The Lords decerned the said Mr Robert to be taken from the Tolbooth of Edinburgh by the hangman under a sure guard to the middle of the Landmarket, and there lashed by seven severe stripes then to be carried down to the Cross, and there severely lashed by six sharp stripes; and then to be carried to the Fountain Well, to be severely lashed by five stripes; and then to be carried back by the hangman to the Tolbooth. Likeas, the Lords banish the said Mr Robert furth of this kingdom, never to return thereto under all highest pains.’
Robert Carmichael was perhaps only unfortunate in some constitutional weakness of his victim. An energetic use of the lash was the rule, not the exception, in the old school. Those of us of a certain age can remember being punished throughout our schooling. The main punishment in Scottish schools by the twentieth century was the Loghelly Tawse, but other schools, mainly fee paying ones used a cane.
In 1982 two Scottish mothers went to the European Court of Human Rights, who passed a judgment that parents had the right to refuse corporal punishment of a child. The legislation came into force in 1987, but most Scottish local education authorities had already abolished it by the early 1980s.
The president can’t fully eliminate the federal agency, but an overhaul could disrupt critical services for students who are of color, low-i
Gloria Oladipo at The Guardian:
For many students of color, access to an equitable education is dependent on the initiatives and programs provided by the Department of Education. Among its various functions, the department provides targeted funding for low-income students, collects data on educational outcomes and investigates potential bias – essential functions that help underserved students. But such services stand to be disrupted or ended entirely as Donald Trump plans to dismantle the department during his second tenure. In addition to nominating for education secretary the former WWE executive Linda McMahon, who served on Connecticut’s state board of education for one year and has no other notable education experience, Trump has pledged to “[close] up” the department and “return” education rights to the states. Though Trump alone cannot eliminate the federal agency, as such an act requires congressional approval beyond a simple majority, experts have warned that any type of overhaul could disrupt the department’s critical roles, especially for marginalized students.
The education department dates back to 1867; the agency was founded to collect data on schools as states crafted their education systems (Congress abolished the department a year later, fearing federal overreach). In 1980, under former president Jimmy Carter, the department was reconceived as an executive agency with the purpose of ensuring equal education access in primary, secondary and higher education across all states. Historically, the department has overseen the implementation of federal civil rights laws in local school districts, such as the desegregation of schools following the supreme court’s Brown v Board of Education decision. Now, the department coordinates “certain services that states receive, protections, and accountability mechanisms”, said Wil Del Pilar, senior vice-president of EdTrust, an education non-profit. The department also “sets priorities” and can use funding incentives to encourage school districts to work around an issue. “[If] teacher diversity is a focus, [the department] can leverage federal dollars to create a competition for folks to apply for dollars to improve the diverse educator pipeline,” he added.
Investigating civil rights violations is a critical function of the department, carried out by their Office of Civil Rights (OCR). In 2023, OCR received a record 19,201 complaints, according to the department’s annual report, with 45% of complaints relating to sex discrimination. Amid an onslaught of legislation targeting transgender youth last year, the OCR fielded several complaints from LGBTQ+ students against their school districts. Eighteen percent of complaints dealt with race and national origin discrimination, including bullying and racist harassment from school officials. In one high-profile example, the OCR investigated the Jefferson county school district, Kentucky’s largest public school district, and found that Black students were punished more often and more severely than white students. As a result, the district is mandated to amend their disciplinary policies by March 2025.
Following an OCR investigation, the department can force a school to make changes by threatening schools in violation of civil rights. “Funding and enforcement go hand-in-hand,” said Rachel Perera, a fellow at the Brown Center on Education Policy at the Brookings Institute. “The threat of violating civil rights law is that you will lose federal funding.” Absent these checks, schools would have less incentive to comply with the law. Statistics from the department’s civil rights data collection not only provide insight into potential education disparities, including discipline rates by race, but they also determine what funding a school district is eligible for. Title I and Title III initiatives, which provide funding for high-poverty schools and English learners, respectively, are both dependent on enrollment statistics. Eliminating the department all together is an unlikely outcome, experts argue, especially as many of the offices within the department are themselves enshrined into federal law. Prominent Republicans, including former president Ronald Reagan, have attempted to eliminate the department, all to no avail.
[...] Under Trump, the department could be underfunded or further understaffed, and offices such as OCR already struggle to investigate an increasing number of complaints. Disenfranchised students, including students of color and those with disabilities, who rely on Title I funding, would be affected as Trump could make further cuts to the underfunded program. “About 90% of school funding comes from local and state sources, but 10% comes from the federal government,” said Perera. “That 10% is oriented towards poor communities, communities that are disproportionately of color, [where if] that money were to go away overnight, those schools would be in a very difficult position.”
Donald Trump’s plans to abolish the DoE could have very disastrous consequences for students with disabilities, POC, low-income, and/or LGBTQ+.
A law banning the suspension of homeless students was overturned, but some San Antonio districts are still in trouble for the practice.
The proposal aims to make working conditions safer for teachers but critics worry it could push the state’s most vulnerable students out of
Research on school discipline has focused largely on the effects of exclusionary measures across the life course, but a University at Buffal
Research on school discipline has focused largely on the effects of exclusionary measures across the life course, but a University at Buffalo sociologist has published a new study that suggests how a fuller range of disciplinary experiences, not just the most severe punishments, has detrimental health and well-being implications for students later in life. The findings, published in the journal Emerging Adulthood, identified three distinct histories of discipline among college-educated emerging adults, a group unlikely to receive the most exclusionary types of discipline. This broader conceptualization of discipline, based on a unique sample of young people, demonstrates the need to think more expansively about the consequences of these disciplinary practices.
Continue Reading.
“A classroom where the rules are uniform in substance and application will be less confusing for children and make it easier for those who have not been taught appropriate behavior at home to learn it at school.” (I wrote this commentary 18 years ago. I still stand by every word.)
I recently went out for a business lunch with a potential client, and we ended up talking, as one is apt to do, about our own lives. He tol
The raid came the same day the Trump administration demanded Columbia address “anti-Zionist” discrimination.
Prem Thakker at Zeteo:
Less than a week after immigration authorities detained Columbia student protest leader Mahmoud Khalil, Department of Homeland Security agents were back on the university’s campus to serve two search warrants. “I am writing heartbroken to inform you that we had federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in two University residences tonight. No one was arrested or detained,” Columbia interim president Katrina Armstrong wrote in an email to the university community late Thursday. “No items were removed, and no further action was taken. Federal agents from the DHS served Columbia University with two judicial search warrants signed by a federal magistrate judge authorizing DHS to enter non-public areas of the University and conduct searches of two student rooms.” [...]
Trump’s Demands
DHS’ presence on the campus came just hours after it was revealed that the Trump administration – through the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration – delivered a letter to Columbia with a list of actions it demanded the university take before it would consider reinstating $400 million in grant funding it cut from the school over what it claimed was the university’s “inaction” in addressing antisemitism.
The Trump administration’s demands included, among other things:
Disciplining students involved in last year's protest at Hamilton Hall, when students occupied the building and renamed it Hind's Hall. “Meaningful discipline means expulsion or multi-year suspension,” the administration emphasized
Centralizing all disciplinary processes under the university president’s office, and empowering the president to suspend or expel students, with an appeal process only through the president
“Ban masks that are intended to conceal identity or intimidate others, with exceptions for religious and health reasons,” with masked individuals having to wear their school IDs outside their clothing
Formalizing a definition of antisemitism (the administration referenced the IHRA definition it uses, which may limit criticism of Israel) and addressing “Anti-Zionist discrimination in “areas unrelated to Israel or Middle East”
Implementing “comprehensive admissions reform”
Placing the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies department under an academic receivership for a minimum of five years – meaning, taking over the department and installing a new department chair
The administration requested “immediate compliance,” upon which they’d “hope to open a conversation about immediate and long-term structural reforms” to return the school “to its original mission of innovative research and academic excellence.”
Expulsions, Suspensions, and Degree Revocations
Earlier Thursday, the university announced that it was issuing “multi-year suspension, temporary degree revocations, and expulsions” related to last year’s Hamilton Hall protest – already fulfilling one of the items on the Trump administration’s wishlist. The punishments were doled out by the University Judicial Board, a group the administration wrote it wanted to eliminate in lieu of centralizing discipline beneath the president. At least 22 students were impacted by the disciplinary processes, according to student organizers. Columbia also expelled and fired Student Workers of Columbia union president Grant Miner, according to the union, just one day before contract negotiations were set to begin with the university.
The Trump Misadministration’s war on pro-Palestinian speech under the guise of “stopping antisemitism” sent Columbia University a wish list of demands it must do before it gets its $400M in grants reinstated: disciplining students involved in the protests at Hamilton Hall with suspensions, expulsions, and diploma revocations, mandating the use of the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism that is used to limit Israel-critical speech, and placing the Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies department under an academic receivership for a minimum of five years.
See Also:
NBC News: Columbia disciplines students for protests as activists seek to block school from sharing records
Al Jazeera: Columbia University punishes pro-Palestine students who occupied building
HuffPost: Trump Administration Issues Columbia An Ultimatum To Restore Federal Funding
