There are alternative approaches to learning which involve children as active participants and do not produce boredom and restlessness. An example is the classroom of Wendy Borton, an elementary school teacher in the Shoreline District's Room Nine Program in Seattle, Washington. To teach her ten- to twelve-year-old youngsters about government, she got them involved with an issue that was relevant to their lives. In September 1992, when a bill to ban corporal punishment in the state's public schools was to be introduced (for the ninth year in a row), the students began researching the issue, reading and discussing articles both in support of corporal punishment and opposed to it.23

They learned that it was legal to inflict physical punishment on schoolchildren that would be considered too severe for prisoners in the state penitentiary. They learned that when an adult hits another adult, it is usually called "assault" and is a crime, but when an adult hits a child, it is usually called "discipline" and is often considered acceptable. They learned that the spanking of pupils by teachers is illegal in every European country, and that in Sweden, television spots advise children of their right not to be spanked. They learned that among the world's industrialized countries, only the United States and South Africa have persevered in the practice.24

The surgeon general has pleaded for a reduction in spanking as a matter of public health, saying such a shift would decrease the cultural acceptance of violence. Yet in 1993, a poll of primary-care doctors published in the AMA Joumal found that 70 percent of family practitioners and 59 percent of pediatricians still supported corporal punishment.25

After thorough discussions and many heated debates, during which their teacher remained steadfastly neutral and allowed the youngsters to come to their own conclusions, the class decided that corporal punishment should not be allowed in schools.

On February 2, 1993, four students from the class traveled to Olym pie to testify before the state House Education Committee. Saying that "schools are for learning, not hitting," the youngsters urged that the bill be passed. At the conclusion of the children's testimony, the comnlittee~s chairperson congratulated them on their excellent presentation.

The bill passed the house, but faced a much tougher battle in the Senate, where it had been soundly defeated in previous years. On March 19, 1993, four different students made the trip to Olympia, this time to testify before the Senate Education Committee. When the senators asked them what teachers could do to maintain order if the option of corporal punishment were removed, the kids showed they had done their homework. One observer recalls: "The students presented several productive, nonviolent ways in which their school deals with behavior problems, including behavior contracts based on agreements among teachers, students, and parents; loss of privileges when contracts are broken, and rewards for achieving contract goals; instruction in creative conflict resolution; and allowing students to help set classroom policy by establishing rules and the consequences for breaking them."

On April 6, 1993, the Senate passed the measure abolishing corporal punishment. Governor Mike Lowry subsequently signed it into law.

Every Child is Special--Every Child is Unique
Some pupils who are labeled as "hyperactive" may simply have a different learning style than the one dictated by the school environment. Thomas Armstrong, author of Awakening YOUT Child's Natural Genius, notes: "Research has found that most of the children at risk for ADHD labeling are actually quite good at paying attention.... They often possess superior'incidental attention' abilities. They pay attention to everything except what they are 'supposed to be' paying attention to. In the classroom, they hear Joey tell Suzy about what happened to Billy during recess. They see the funny drawings that Ed made on the chalkboard before the beginning of class-drawings the teacher has not yet noticed. They observe their own inner thoughts, including daydreams.... Is this sort of attentional style truly a disorder? Probably not. After all, infants and toddlers engage in some of the most powerful learning they will ever experience in their lives They master the complex tasks of walking and talking by letting their attention be drawn to points of interest and by absorbing knowledge in incidental ways. Millions of years of evolution may have endowed the human being with this inborn drive toward spontaneous exploration, curiosity, and the need for variety and novelty, so that a person would have the lifelong capacity to search out new possibilities-a decided asset when outer conditions change and new forms of adaptation are required. And children labeled ADHD may be carriers of this special trait."76