A 13-year old Michigan boy has spent more than a week in a children’s hospital after he was forced to do push-ups as a punishment in lieu of detention. Donell Dixon attends the David Ellis Academy in Detroit, and he was recently reprimanded for running through the halls and slamming lockers closed. When he was offered the choice of detention or push-ups, Donell chose the latter and is now suffering from Rhabdomyolysis, or over-exertion of the muscles.
Dixon claims that he did 100 push-ups while school officials are claiming that he performed 3 sets of 20 with water breaks in between. Regardless, his mother has met with an attorney, but none of the reports are very clear as to whether or not she’s pursuing legal action. My guess is that she will, seeing as her son has spent a week in a hospital peeing blood with a serious kidney ailment. But according to WXYZ ABC news in Michigan, both his mother and the school are praying for his full recovery, as they should.
News report including an interview with his mother after the jump, and I’m throwing this question out there – Are push-ups, or exercise and physical exertion in general, an acceptable form of discipline in schools when administered and monitored by a school official?
