Without A Paddle

Did you read about Oklahoma native Scott McConnell who got "expelled" from LeMoyne College's masters program for writing a paper advocating the use of corporal punishment in public schools? Even though the paper was good enough to earn him an A-minus, it also was too politically incorrect for the New York school's administration. They have refused to allow the degenerate masters student to enrol for the spring semester.

Their loss. McConnell describes the college's attitude and discusses the formative experience that has influenced his beliefs about corporal punishment:

"LeMoyne doesn't believe students should be able to express their own views," McConnell said. "If you differ from our philosophical ideal you will be expelled from our college."
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McConnell was raised in Oklahoma, where corporal punishment was used when he was a student, he said. In the fourth grade he was paddled by a teacher for being unruly. "It worked. I never talked out of turn again," he said.

LeMoyne officials say the issue is "very complicated" and "there is no clean dividing line" between a student's opinion and a well-reasoned ability to make "professional judgments."

Whatever that means.

Reasonable people can differ on the value of corporal punishment, or whether some other form of discipline might work better in the classroom. In fact, that's the whole point: reasonable people do differ, and in a free society -- especially in an academic setting -- reasonable people should be encouraged to explore their differences, analyze data and challenge prevailing orthodoxy.

But since liberalism now equates corporal punishment with child abuse, it looks like it's just one more taboo subject. My way or the highway redux.

Pathetic.