People, schools don't have brooms and mops for that many kids. I am a teacher in a NW elementary school and I am responsible for lunch duty. If a large group of students were having a food fight, there would be serious consequences and one of them would be cleaning up their mess. If they needed to do it on hands and knees with napkins I wouldn't think twice.

How can anyone say that these students shouldn't be held accountable on the spot? Hands and knees? Too bad. They should know better and not do it ever again.

If it's just a few I have them work under the charge of our custodians using brooms and mops.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If my kids did this, they'd be spanked. This is NOT corporal punishment.

Why would you spank a child for this? (Or ever really.) To demonstrate them that's okay to hit other people? What a stupid lesson. I sure makes a lot more sense to let them pick up the consequences that are inherently connected to the misbehavior.

The only time I ever hit one of my kids was when s/he hit me in the face. I whacked right back and that was the end of it, no hitting ever. However, I do make sure there are logical consequences to poor choices they're making.

If my kids participated in a food fight at school, I'd tan their asses.

uh, my white kids do this at home all the time. even when they accidentally drop food, they get down on the floor and pick it up with their hands.

I cleaned floors and bathrooms at my house every weekend (often on my hands and knees) starting at about 8 years old. It was not called "corporal punishment," it was called "chores."

Corporal punishment was when our parents hit us with belts or switches. There is a difference.

I have never hit my kid and I never will, but I wish I had made him do a lot more chores around the house. He's 13 and takes forever to sweep a floor. Almost all of his friends are far worse though --- many have no idea how to use a broom or wash a dish.

Anonymous wrote:If my kids did this, they'd be spanked. This is NOT corporal punishment.

Why would you spank a child for this? (Or ever really.) To demonstrate them that's okay to hit other people? What a stupid lesson. I sure makes a lot more sense to let them pick up the consequences that are inherently connected to the misbehavior.

The only time I ever hit one of my kids was when s/he hit me in the face. I whacked right back and that was the end of it, no hitting ever. However, I do make sure there are logical consequences to poor choices they're making.

If my kids did this, they'd be spanked. This is NOT corporal punishment.

Anonymous wrote:This is not corporal punishment... when they litter the playground they are required to pick-up their trash. When they write inappropriate "graffiti" on items, they are required to wash area. I have seen where the students at lunch, many of them got up and walked away. They didn't throw away their trash or return their lunch trays to designated area. The cafeteria manager complained and the student were returned back to the cafeteria to clean up the area. Mess-up then you clean up...this is a public school with privileges not a privileged school that's above public scrutiny.

Don't you know that most DC students have an aversion to physical labor?

I think students SHOULD have to clean up if they make a mess. They need to learn to be responsible for the consequences of their actions. I am TOTALLY in favor of it.

I am also in favor of having prison inmates be required to work as well - I think prisons should be largely self sufficient, with inmate labor responsible for cooking, cleaning, growing crops, repairs, et cetera. For one, it's not at all "cruel and unusual punishment" as the rest of us working stiffs on the outside have to take care of ourselves - it's not cruel or unusual, it's NORMAL. Additionally, it can provide inmates with the skills needed to survive and operate legitimately when they get back on the outside, for example being able to get a job where they can apply trade skills learned on the outside, rather than turning to crime as their means of income.

Responsibility, ya know?

Anonymous wrote:So having kids crawl around on the floor hands/knees is legit with you all?

If your kids were in this video you would be ok with it?

Yes, if my kid is the culprit. Why is it a teacher or janitor's responsibility to clean it up?

Anonymous wrote:If my kids got in trouble at school for being in a food fight, there would be actual corporal punishment when they got home.

+1000. And they would be cleaning my kitchen for weeks.

This is not corporal punishment... when they litter the playground they are required to pick-up their trash. When they write inappropriate "graffiti" on items, they are required to wash area. I have seen where the students at lunch, many of them got up and walked away. They didn't throw away their trash or return their lunch trays to designated area. The cafeteria manager complained and the student were returned back to the cafeteria to clean up the area. Mess-up then you clean up...this is a public school with privileges not a privileged school that's above public scrutiny.