When we cane, we have FAILED (2)

This is comment on my blog published on FamilyPlace though it would be good to share  this

- Comments : First of all, these people seriously believe they are sincere in addressing the indiscipline in school. What a frightful thought, because they of course think they are clever people. And clever people do not like to reason much because well, they are already very much clever. These 700 (most probably handpicked as those 'most likely to say aye') would recommend just about anything that DEFLECTS from the FACT that it is them, parents and teachers as a collective whole, who have been unthinking in supporting a system and way of life which created an entire generation of dysfunctional youth. It is these same people who have chosen, unthinkingly or knowingly, to place their priorities in life in such a way that has caused the erosion of all values worth living for in a civilised society. They would recommend any measure which will not make them stick their noses into the plain truth; that they were the ones responsible for bearing these children / choosing this prof

Anyway, if you think about it, the more blunders he collective society and the government makes when it comes to the development and learning of our youth, the better it is for fence-sitters and pro-learning people; it will force people to make a choice how much is enough. Nothing short of a critical mass of people who have awakened to the failings of this post-dated form of 'learning'will create real change.

As for my personal experience with caning, 2 years ago my daugher was caned until her little Std.1 palm swelled up so much she couldn't hold her spoon properly. She forgot one page of writing. I wasn't aghast so much at the physical action of the caning, but her meek acceptance that someone could use authority to inflict a form of violence on her. Being a single mom raising a daughter, the last thing I want her to accept is that a person who has supposed authority over you can hit you. She's going to get married some day and I don't want her to be with anyone which will hit her!

Of course some people will say, 'Gosh you're so extreme. You think too far.' But I guess it's the 'not thinking far' kind of mentality which has given us a regressive progress in the past few decades. And then there are those who will say, 'Ahh! It's just a little caning....' but that sounds exactly like an abuser saying, 'Ah, it's just a few bruises and cuts' and a rapist justifying, 'Ah, it's just some skanky w****' and SHE DESERVES IT.' How many teachers will actually say, 'The kid didn't deserve it?' The fact that you use force as a means cannot justify the 'He/She deserves this....' mentality.

Seriously, the reprobation of caning isn't about forsaking discipline. It's about waking up to think about what values you're going to own as a society. Be aware that violence isn't a sudden overturn of emotions gone wild. Violence is conditioning over time, a numbness to compassion, a justification of terror.

It's understandable that some well-meaning parents and teachers are ignorant of the repercussions of violence in teaching a child. The previous generation used to argue that they were caned and they turned out alright. I say to them, back then, education was so valuable that seldom a child wanted to get caned for the novelty of it. Furthermore, children learned in an environment which made them feel the learning is so precious,teachers were generally more knowledgeable and well-trained than the students and their parents and knowledge was not just something they could pick up outside. Back then, they wouldn't risk expulsion because learning was an asset to some degree. If times have changed and the objectives and environment for learning has changed, do we expect to apply the same methods to instil discipline? The causes for indiscipline today is far from identical to the causes of rare cases of indiscipline 'back then when you were young.'

Schools shouldn't be burdened with disciplining students - they should focus on the core of imparting knowledge and nurturing learning. There wasn't even proof to begin with that the Dark Ages practise of punitive measures to subdue learners was effective in creating learning. Schools were never centres for discipline. Learning happened under trees during Socrates time. Neither Alexander the Great nor Buddha would've achieved what they had if schooling for them was all about punishment.

Punitive measures in schools were a thoughtless and careless extension from the Dark Ages when priests caned boys in the believe that it would 'beat the devil out of them'. When schooling became 'large-scale', they borrowed these practices as a quick fix. Punitive measurement has never been proven to be either effective nor constructive. So much research has been made on the effects of physical punishment but we choose to forsake ALL THAT WISDOM in favour of a practise from the Dark Ages that had neither value nor reason except in gratifying egomaniacal priests.

Perhaps the next time they pick '700 people', they should pick those who are doing a good job as teachers and parents and instead ask these people how they've managed to instil learning and discipline WITHOUT the cane. I would've thought that would be an obvious fact.

- Submitted By  : Sloane
- Submitted On  : 06:05,  11/30/2007