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So Many Laws, So Little Time
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We have become a culture of rule followers, driven to frame every solution in terms of existing law or possible legal risk.
LAW EVERYWHERE
Something’s amiss when a girl in kindergarten, all of 40 pounds, is led away in handcuffs by police. That’s what happened in the spring of 2005 in St. Petersburg, Florida. Equally strange, the whole episode was taped and shown on national television. There’s the little girl, hair neatly braided, going from desk to desk, throwing books and pencils on the floor, tearing papers off the bulletin board, and methodically destroying her classroom. The assistant principal circles her, arms outstretched as if in a linebacker drill, but assiduously avoiding contact. (Why not just hold on to her? You wonder, watching… Is the child a hemophiliac?) The little girl is eventually steered into the principal’s office, where she continues to wreak havoc on the orderly piles of paper and announcements tacked to the wall. Eventually the police arrive and handcuff the five-year-old. She screams. The tape ends.
All this law has provided ample fodder for late-night comedians, who regale us with the latest legal idiocy. No one could make up stories like the first-grade boy in North Carolina suspended for sexual harassment when he kissed a first-grade girl.
For as long as there have been schools, teachers have had to deal with unreasonable five-year-olds. Calling the cops isn’t the time-tested solution. Let’s rewind the tape and handle this sensibly. Problem: temper tantrum in kindergarten classroom. Solution: Ask the girl to stop. When she refuses, hold her by the arm, preventing more destruction. If necessary, take her to another room until she calms down. Doing what’s right here isn’t rocket science.
But teachers in America can’t do this. Taking hold of a child’s arm is verboten—touching is taboo, except to prevent harm to others. So a five-year-old ends up in handcuffs.
The rule against touching a student is now pretty much universal in America. One of my daughter’s college roommates, teaching beginning swimmers in East Harlem, was strictly forbidden to hold her students up in the water (to prevent drowning) until she had asked and received explicit permission from each child. She had to ask not once, but each and every time she did it. “May I put my hand on your stomach?” over and over again. The youngsters realized this made no sense. “Why do you keep asking me if you can put your hand on my stomach?” But she had been instructed never to make contact without asking the question.
Physical contact is one of those subjects thats a little touchy. We can all agree that anyone who has a tendency to act inappropriately around children should be shown the door, or put in the slammer. There are some people, as we learned with the Catholic priest scandal, who have this problem. But a blanket rule against physical contact is itself weird, almost as disturbing as contact that’s a little too friendly. Young children need physical reassurance. Sometimes older children need physical restraint, or least the fear of physical restraint. Otherwise some students will flout the teacher’s powerlessness.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Appoint Real People, Not Saints
Philip K. Howard, a lawyer, is the author of Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans From Too Much Law, just released by W.W. Norton, and the bests-elling The Death of Common Sense. He is chairman of Common Good and advises leaders of both parties on legal and regulatory reform.
Overregulated America
Philip K. Howard, a lawyer, is the author of Life Without Lawyers: Liberating Americans From Too Much Law, just released by W.W. Norton, and the bests-elling The Death of Common Sense. He is chairman of Common Good and advises leaders of both parties on legal and regulatory reform.
I stopped a FIGHT between two 7th grade boys, and was chastised because I touched them. Unbelievable!
Then one of the parents called me and told me they "would not allow their son to be manhandled by an adult". I told them I did not manhandle anyone - I STOPPED a fight.
And we wonder why teachers can't teach.
Enough.
.
Mr. Howard,
Yes! I say, yes! This is exactly the dialogue we the people need to be having. The bureaucratic obsession with process and procedure is choking the life out of us. Where do I file that lawsuit? Of course, the legal-industrial complex will cry heresy at your ideas. You're proposing a dramatic cutback in the production of $500 an hour legal briefs. If you need a bodyguard, sir, I am volunteering. I will knock the daylights out of anyone who tries to silence you as long as you defend me in the ensuing legal abyss.
On second thought, I will be happy to sell your treatises on the street corner. Is that still legal?
Outstanding, Sir!
"In this new legalistic culture, people no longer look inside themselves to do what's right. Instead they focus on possible legal implications."
Says who? You sure make an awful lot of assumptions based on a few outrageous lawsuits then chastise other for doing so in the same breath.
How would you do this differently? Allow teachers to molest their student? You seem to advocate that. Allow teachers to beat their student? You seem to to mourn the fact that they are not allowed. Living in a civilized society creates certain problems and upon solving some problems sometimes others pop up that need to be addressed. It doesn't mean we shouldn't try to solve problems in the first place.
Blame laywers for the handful of frivolous lawsuits that come about? Wow!!!! What a daring piece of journalism!!!!
Where did my comment go? It wasn't offensive.
Interesting, well written and thought provoking. Thank you for writing this.
I work in a regulated industry and do compliance work. It is interesting to create systems for a consistent level of quality. It seems that we really do need compliance to provide a good investigation for when things go wrong. It helps leave a trail so we can go back to find out why things went wrong. Food and medical device compliance is good for everyone. Left unchecked you end up with guy doing peanut butter and their lack of systems caused death. So human behavior will always be a wonder to me.
So let me get this straight, I can't take legal action against the Wall Streeters who caused my retirement funds to fly around the room backwards like a leaky balloon, but if a teacher reaches out a hand to restore civility to a classroom that's $90,000? Man what a fool I've been. Thanks for letting me know where the real retirement money is. I just hope it's not too late to get in on this.
It's not just physical contact with students anymore that can cause legal concerns. I am an adjunct professor at a community college, my very first semester teaching I had a student appeal my grade. To the meeting she brought a lawyer, attempting to bully and intimidate me into giving her a better grade. Students have a sense of entitlement brought about by our materialistic and instant gratification culture. If they don't get what the want, they will do whatever necessary (including calling their local lawyers) to get it. Luckily for me, the student had no grounds, as I set all the rules in my syllabus.
Thank you.
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