Last week in your Opinion page Brenda Stewart makes her case against corporal punishment in schools. In her 5th paragraph she shows her deep concern for children and her bitterness toward those of Texas politics who would vote for school paddling as good for the child yet cut funding for programs which benefit children. In pointing out that inconsistency she awkardly displays a major one of her own.
But first, she cites studies that show that paddling is bad for kids, causing increased dropout rates. When I taught at Hays High School (one year only) I saw the good it did in changing for the better a behavior problem. I have my own experience as a recipient in high school and it did make me aware that my behavior before that moment was not tolerated. I had received multiple warnings before the visit to the vice principle’s office. I never went back there again and I didn’t drop out. Done under the umbrella of love and necessity, it is an effective behavior tool. And I can cite studies that show the opposite of hers.
Brenda set a snare for herself in her alacrity towards her compassion for children. She has written at least two opinions expressing her anger towards Texas politicians who would pass a law that mandates that women get a sonogram before an abortion procedure. She paints herself as an abortion advocate via a woman’s right to choose.
Roe vs Wade is the law of the land. Can’t help that. This sonogram is a step in the direction of informed consent, it could be argued. The patient, by law, must know the risks of the procedure in order to give informed consent. Abortion is a serious surgical procedure for a woman. It is much more serious for the baby.
Herein lies her own trap. So suffering and compassionate she is toward the brutality of paddling a child, she forgets her ambivalence towards the taking of innocent lives.
Her duplicity may be the source of her inner turmoil which is so palpable in her printed opinions.
Ray Wolbrecht DDS
Kyle
