Sherry

I have mentioned Sherry more than once in previous posts. She is a wonderful little girl in my 1093 class. She is 9 years old, one of my younger students. The material we have been covering for the past few months has been pretty tough and she is struggling. Part of the problem is her age, very few kids her age are learning at this level. Also, she has the attention span of a fruit fly. At nine years old, I was much the same way. She drifts off in class and I catch her doodling when she should be paying attention. Lately, she hasn't been doing her homework...not good. I heard through the grapevine that her mother is unhappy with her performance. A few days ago I approached her about the situation and noticed that her left arm looked strange. I asked her about it and she told me that her mother had beaten her. Her arm had red splotches all over it. I have a very hard time with this type of thing...her grades aren't great, but they certainly aren't terrible either. Last time I checked she was averaging about 80%.

While I understand that kids need to be disciplined, I just don't buy the "spare the rod, spoil the child" mentality. Hitting your kids is standard practice here and I hate it!

She is 9 years old...