Public Humiliation

I saw this story on Striving for Average.

“EDMOND, Okla. – Tasha Henderson got tired of her 14-year-old daughter’s poor grades, her chronic lateness to class and her talking back to her teachers, so she decided to teach the girl a lesson.

She made Coretha stand at a busy Oklahoma City intersection Nov. 4 with a cardboard sign that read: “I don’t do my homework and I act up in school, so my parents are preparing me for my future. Will work for food.”

“This may not work. I’m not a professional,” said Henderson, a 34-year-old mother of three. “But I felt I owed it to my child to at least try.”

In fact, Henderson has seen a turnaround in her daughter’s behavior in the past week and a half. But the punishment prompted letters and calls to talk radio from people either praising the woman or blasting her for publicly humiliating her daughter.”

I appreciate a parent who takes an interest in their children and does what they can to help educate them but I am not a fan of public humiliation. It often is effective at affecting change but it does a poor job of educating the person as to why their actions were wrong and leads to hard feelings that can manifest themselves and create new problems.