One line contains the core of McArthur’s complaint: “Whatever might be said for such a policy, there’s simply no getting around the following fact: it makes the violent depletion of a child’s bodily fluids into a state-sanctioned method of discipline.”
The core of my claim: “Is it?”
What’s so bad about losing blood? Sure, if you bleed …
Monthly Archives: November 2009
Dissent: Fluid Notions of Recompense
DISSENT: What’s the big deal?
First, I find it somewhat difficult to get very invested in what seems like a relatively trivial matter. The high school policy is voluntary; it’s a little creepy, sure, but I doubt very many high school students will get all that caught up in questions of reward and punishment or the greater implications following from …
Concur: Purchasing Wrongful Behavior
Garbanzo paints a disturbing picture that mixes fears of totalitarianism with macabre, almost vampyric, imagery. I do agree with Garbanzo’s broader position, but not for the reasons he cites. At least on a general level, malefactors, whether adults or children, should not be able to select their punishments from a set of options.
Essay: Bloody Punishment
In my former life as a high school teacher, I one day came across an item in my school’s morning bulletin allowing students to donate blood in lieu of serving detention hours. Whatever might be said for such a policy, there’s simply no getting around the following fact: it makes the violent depletion of a child’s bodily fluids into a state-sanctioned method of discipline. It lets students atone for their misbehavior — for, say, throwing a paper airplane across the classroom — through a procedure in which a needle punctures their skin, penetrates their vein, and forcibly pumps out blood by the pint.
Previously: The Trouble With Transparency
Lawrence Lessig thinks the transparency movement is unreasonable. Bill Goodwin thinks we should make it inreasonable.
Dissent: The Narrative of Lawmaking
In my view, campaign contributions are rarely corrupting in the sense that they improperly influence a legislator’s political position. There can be no doubt, however, that they greatly influence how he spends his political capital.
While a given congressman may support an endless number of groups and causes, there are only so many in whose service he can …