'Save the rod and spoil the child'. That is the popular saying by parents who mete out corporal punishment to their errant children. But this also seems to be on the lips of scores of teachers who have defied the government directive that pupils and students should NOT be caned. In fact it is a criminal offence to cane a student in schools these days.
A teacher who I spoke to recently told me there was no way she was going to teach pupils especially those in the lower classes without using the cane as this was the only form of discipline they understood or better still, the most effective.
The same teacher who also has a school going daughter said she did not mind her being spanked once in a while when she exhibited naughty behavior and adds the government should never have outlawed caning in the first place
She goes further to justify corporal punishment by saying strikes have increased in recent years since caning was abolished and she is among the many teacher's countrywide who want corporal punishment restored.
Many lauded the government for banning 'the stick' as they were extreme cases where students were badly injured and admitted to hospital while in rare cases, they were beaten to death.
As a matter of fact, such cases have not stopped even with the government directive of banning caning and the ministry of education should have provided for an alternative discipline measure when it scrapped corporal punishment. But it did not.
Don’t get me wrong, this blogger does not support corporal punishment and I believe it is an outdated and archaic way of instilling discipline but the authorities concerned should come out with a clear cut alternative to discipline or caning will never stop in both public and private schools as majority of teachers do not know any other way.
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Chris, my take on this is that corporal punishment is necessary and benefitial to the children because TV influence has significantly changed the way we do most things including bringing up children. A 5-10 year old kid today is much more smarter than a 5-10 year old of twenty-five years ago.
ReplyDeleteIn addition Chris, you will be suprised to learn that a big percentage of children in our schools now are from single parent homes. That was hardly the case in the 70s and 80s, it was indeed very rare to find a student from a single parent home.
And the best way to go about instilling discipline in youngsters is to strengthen parent's participation in the school activities through the Parents Teachers Association (PTA). Let both parents and teachers be responsible for the child's discipline in school.
Another thing Chris, you will note that today's parents are generally getting younger and younger in age and maturity, and I think it is high time someone proposed that they be taken through a "crash course" on how to bring up children. This is another factor that contributes to indiscipline in children.
Phil, I disagree with you on certain issues.
ReplyDelete1. Beating children or anyone is not discipline. Discipline means teaching. I have 2 Dogs, a German Shepherd and a Spitz, and they have been trained without beating - we can train/teach/learn children without beating them. When you are unable to train without beating, it is not because the child is 'bad', 'different' or 'kichwa ngumu', its because you're a poor parent/teacher/adult. You're older and more mature, and when things go wrong, you're too blame. I agree with you that greater participation by parents in school activities is highly beneficial to positive child development.
2. I didn't get your point about single parents. Were you implying that increase in single parenthood has had a corresponding increase in indiscipline? If yes, I disagree. Anecdotal evidence shows that this maybe true, but my simple research also shows that our parents (those of us btn 23 & 43) led unhappy marriages even if they stayed together. Of course the key question is which of these 2 has a worse effect on child behaviour. The jury is still out.
3. Again I did a simple study and realised that parents these days are older than they were, say even 10 years ago. When my dad was 35, i was 12 years old. I think its a fact that people are marrying & having children much later in life. But again, the link between young parents and indiscipline is still weak.
It is wrong to beat people...and children are people too.