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Ending Corporal Punishment

© Marilyn Robb

Ending corporal punishment.

About five months ago a law was finally passed banning corporal punishment in the schools here. There was much stirring up of people's feelings about this. Mostly teachers are scared that they have no other means of managing their classrooms. This is a letter I wrote that was published in the daily newspapers.

There are a number of us ,parents, educators, young people and allies to young people, who welcome the passing of the law ending corporal punishment in the school. Some of us have been, quietly and not so quietly, fighting this issue for years. We are already seeing mixed reactions to the announcement. My concern is primarily about how we are going to help teachers deal with this shift in paradigm. I hope that in our haste to offer alternatives we do not fall into our usual pattern of near-sightedness and deal only with the superficial. There will be lots of individuals and organizations offering programmes to the teachers. I would like to remind all those who are willing to contribute to the solutions that there is a more fundamental issue that needs to be addressed before practices can change. As with all the other changes we have been attempting to institute in our education system , let us not forget the deep-rooted effect corporal and other punishment has had on our teachers themselves.

In order for teachers to engage in new practices in schools they must first address their own thinking and feelings about this issue. In addition to the residual effect of punishment that they themselves carry, which is what in effect causes them to perpetuate the practice in class, they are now being faced with their own fear, and anxiety of what measures they now have to maintain discipline in their class and get their students to learn. Remember a large number of our teachers have had no training nor understanding of the social and emotional aspects of teaching and learning and therefore were of the misguided perception that beating a child will get him to learn his times tables or sit quietly in the class. They were not given alternative practices in the first place. Some of them have been using these old methods for more than twenty years. Handing them a manual with suggested alternative “punishment” and talking at them about it in a 2-day workshop is not going to change attitudes and behaviour. Especially when we do it on top of all the other issues that have not been addressed for teachers yet. The process of changing is along deep one, and it is a complex one. Attitudes are influenced directly and indirectly by a number of factors. All of these factors must be addressed and dealt with effectively for long-lasting, real change.