A metro Detroit man says he put up a billboard in Amarillo, Texas advertising his website with a shocking name. The website is “BeatYourChildren.com.”
So what is the website and why did he decide to make sure people in Texas knew about it?
He says he did it after he heard about a new policy at River Road Schools in Amarillo, Texas. The school board there voted to bring back corporal punishment.
The principals in the district are now allowed to spank or paddle children who misbehave.
“This was something that our parents had come up and talked to our board members. And our board members addressed it with the administration that we want to bring this policy back into effect,” said Dean Birkes, River Road High School Principal, in an interview with the Amarillo ABC affiliate.
“I can’t believe that in our time and age a school with access to the research, over 50-years of peer-reviewed research sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, they know that it is wrong and have decided to pass the message to people that it is going to be okay,” said Dan Vander Ley, the man behind the billboard and the website.
You may have figured out, BeatYourChildren.com is not what you might assume.
When you go to the site it reads.. “Give your children what they deserve.” It then has links titled Depression, Suicide, Lower Wages, Less Education, Drug Abuse, Wife beating. Those links take you to studies, some on the National Institute of Heath website about how corporal punishment has been linked to serious issues.
The school district says it is about giving parents a choice. They can sign a paper saying they don’t want corporal punishment for their children if they choose.
“We’re not going to force this on anybody,” said Birkes.
Vander Ley counters that schools should be leaders in making educated decisions, not decisions based on what parents want.
“I get that people think it works, because the kid immediately stops their negative action, but what it really does is create a cycle of violence.
While corporal punishment is allowed in parts of the country, such as Texas, in Michigan it is banned in schools.
