A word to the wise, and perhaps not-so-wise

This disturbing story out of Alabama reminds us how dependent our kids are on us and how important it is for us to advocate on their behalf. The story concerns two teachers’ psychological abuse of a 10-year-old boy with cerebral palsy. The teachers might never have been caught if the boy’s mom had not bugged his wheelchair. And even when his mom took the evidence to the school board, the teachers were able to return to their positions after a few days of “administrative leave”. It was only when the mom took her tapes to the media and they went viral on YouTube that the school board decided it might actually do something. They will be meeting on April 9 to discuss what to do about the teachers’ cruel behaviour.

It’s important to bear in mind that psychological child abuse is only one of the abuses that schools are able to perpetrate on kids. Even harder to detect and arguably even more important, is academic child abuse - abuse that often goes on year after year and has a cumultively devastating effect, blighting kids’ futures. In this arena too, children are totally vulnerable and dependent on their parents as advocates.

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