Boy Holds Humiliating Sign as Punishment

Mrs. Vogel - ESL

Boy Holds Humiliating Sign as Punishment

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- A young boy became a walking billboard after he was forced to display a humiliating message about misbehaving.

The teen was suspended from school, but that was nothing compared to his mother's punishment.

Thirteen-year-old Freddy Mccloud was issued a very embarrassing punishment by his mom and uncle, Thursday afternoon. "Let him learn a lesson. This is what happens when you don't do right," said Sam Norris, Freddy's uncle.

"I got in trouble in school," Freddy said.

The eighth grader got suspended for getting into a fight, so he had to fight public humiliation and hold a sign on the sidewalk that read: "I don't know how to behave in school. If I continue, I will end up working hard for little money."

The punishment for the 13-year-old boy was not easy. He had to hold the sign for two hours along busy Miami Gardens Drive while people laughed, honked and stared.

"Whatever it takes to make him behave, I'm willing to do it," Freddy's mom, Norlishia Norris, said.

Freddy's mother and uncle devised the poster board punishment, and they knew Freddy would be embarrassed. "I told him it's an embarrassment to me, to have the school call me over and over and over again, when I'm trying to raise him as a good little boy," said Norlishia.

Bystanders thought the punishment was suitable and believe the sign has taught the little boy a lesson. "He will think about it. He won't do it no more," Demetrius Ogeen said.

Despite the punishment, his mother still feels her son is good at heart. "Over all, my son is a good boy, but I want him to know when you make bad choices, you'll have to pay for them later on in life," Norlishia said.

Freddy agrees with his mom and said he has learned his lesson. "A big lesson not to get in trouble at school," he said.

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- Posted on September 5, 2010