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Corporal punishment in schools: How do you feel about it today?

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I grew up on the island of Jamaica. I entered Grade 5 at the age of 10 in September 1979 at a rural primary school. My class teacher was Ms C Lawson, then 34 years old, 5 ft 10 ins tall, of medium weight. She hung her cane of discipline beside the blackboard. One morning I had forgotten my math homework and got six strokes in the palms of my hands. Another time I was caught gabbing away and got it on the thighs. But the usual site was on the hands (that changed some months later).

I turned 11 on January 1980 and began overeating copiously. By April I had become truly obese (like a Sumo wrestler), and I now had an enormous, gigantic belly. As a result my shirts were forced open and my belly now hung two feet over my pants. I"d do the the top buttons on my shirt but could not button the lower ones. The front of my belly was now always exposed.

One day during a math test Ms Lawson caught me giving the answers to girl sitting beside me and called us both up. She explained to the rest of the class what we had done then reached for her cane. She then caned me on my belly five strokes. She caned the girl on the hands. Another day I got five strokes on the belly and five on the hands for excessive talking.

Yet another day Ms Lawson was correcting some timed essays which the class had recently done. She noticed that I had misspelt the word "animosity" and called me up. As I approached her desk she stuck her cane into my navel with force and commanded me to spell the word properly. Each time I misspelt it she would twist the cane, grinding it into my navel as if she were trying to drill and burst my belly. Finally I spelt the word correctly and she let me go.

Another day I had forgotten my Civics textbook and Ms Lawson dropped five strokes of the cane across my belly and two on my hands.

The girls in the class would cry after being caned but most of us boys never did. Nobody was ever sent to the principal. We were always respectful to our teachers. Everybody always wore the proper uniform to school. Our parents had nothing but praise for Ms Lawson. She was pleased with our consistent high scores in our tests and exams (all A's), but if I turned in incomplete homework, came to class after the bell had rung or messed up otherwise, she'd get irate and the cane would be flayed leaving welts and bruises. The cane scars on my hands and arms would vanish in a day or two, but those on my belly remained and by June 1980 there was a criss cross pattern of cane scars on the front of my belly. These black scars would intrigue the other kids in my neighborhood who called me "Fatty Supreme". One cute girl glamorised them as battle scars. To my mom and the other adults the scars were evidence that a diligent school teacher was effectively managing her class. Everybody from that class has become successful in life today. Within 10 years of leaving Ms Lawson's class I got my Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry, then later I obtained a PhD in Pharmacology and am a pharmacist today.

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  1. While there will always be instances of excessive amounts of corporal punishment that doesn't mean corporal punishment should not exist, it simply means it should not be done in an excessive manner. I think that some form of corporal punishment should still exist in schools today. Ridding the schools of this option handicaps them. Sometimes this method of punishment and discipling is the only reasonable alternative.


  2. If a child is acting out in school that badly, then they need a heck of a lot more than a spanking. I mean give me a break, spanking doesn't solve these issues. These kind of kids need consistency, discipline, parents who pay attention to them and spend time with them. The issues that cause kids to misbehave in school go a lot deeper than that. it's simple minded to think smacking them is going to change anything.

    Adam M, are you aware that over 90% of todays parents spank? Therefore how can lack of spanking be the problem with kids today?? Maybe it's the opposite!

  3. I don't feel that corporal punishment is a bad thing. Now granted what happened to you was a bit excessive and I'd say cruel, but overall I'd say its a good idea. I went to a school that used corporal punishment. It was only administered by the principal, in her office. A wooden paddle was used, and one would only ever recive swats on the behind.

    Todays children are out of control, they act however they want to in school. If corporal punishment were allowed, perhaps the students would behave better. After having attended two schools, one which corporal punishment was allowed, the other where it wasn't, I'd have to say the behavior of the students was much better at the school where it was allowed. Not perfect, but much better.

    As a note, I'm sorry to say, I was on the reciving end of the principals paddle twice while I was a student. I do feel though, that it made me behave much better.

  4. This is truly abuse. Even if you misspell a word in your class you get physically abused by your teacher until you spell it right. I am glad that I live in the United States where we have LAWS about this kind of abuse. If my mom gives me a paddling, it's for discipline, not because I misspelled a word.

    In the united states, the worst thing they can do to us in schools is call our parents or send us to the Principal's office. What happened at your school was just sick.

    Please don't flame me, I am only speaking the truth.

  5. well, for starters i would like to say to the liberal responders,"have you seen the news lately?" kids gunning other kids down in cold blood, mass murders at schools, malls, communities, kids are very disrespectful to teachers and parents. yes i am all for corperal punishment, we do enforce it at our house, and it is the way God gave us to discipline our children. you can try to supernanny or reason all you want, but in real life it will not help them to respect authority and ultimately God. that is the principle that is to be conveyed in the first place, you sin, there is consequence, but then reconcilliation. i would dare say most of us have forgot the times we were grounded for something, but we remember the times that when we really stepped out of line and mom or dad got ahold of us.....a normal spanking is NOT child abuse by no means, you dont have to swat hard, when they cry, they are not crying because of the pain of the paddle, they are crying because of frustration, rebellion, and remorse. havent you, as an adult ever cryed because of these things?

  6. Yes but do you feel complete happiness within yourself despite your success? No bluffing, b/c you can't hide from your own feelings.

    Did she turn you into another statistic of the depressed adult generation we see this day and age?

  7. Mrs. Lawson would be buried in an unmarked shallow grave somewhere had that been my child! HEY I'm am not against punishment in schools but I do not believe ANYONE that doesn't Love my child should Spank them and what this woman did was not discipline nor Spnking...it was Unadulterated ABUSE!!!No Way I would NEVER allow It!!! If a spanking is needed I WILL ADMINISTER IT! My kids know though that if a Teacher has to Reprimand them for something at school they have IT COMING AT HOME...FROM ME!

  8. That is archaic, cruel and should not even be an issue. If that woman hit my child you can bet she'd regret it.  

  9. I feel this should not be allowed. It creates feelings of inadequacy,and it teaches that violence is an acceptable way to fix problems.  

  10. I think if the teachers were allowed to paddle today they would have more control over their students.  It sickens me to go to my son's school and see the out-of-control behavior of most of the students.  

  11. Even reading your story... especially because of your story, I feel that corporal punishment in schools is cruel and gives teachers and other school staff license to abuse children, leaving the children defenseless and the parents held blameless. I know many successful people who got that way through hard work and diligence under the guidance of caring instructors, so while I am impressed that you and your class all are successful (though a bit skeptical... the odds that you are all still alive and none of you have experienced any trauma or setbacks are slim) I think there are other ways.

  12. Removing corporal punishment from schools was a terrible mistake. No wonder the prisons are filled to overflowing. It teaches respect, discipline and consequences for your actions. I firmly believe in the laying on of hands to correct unruly children. We raised 7 that way, they are all respectful of others as well as productive citizens. When the state started to mandate how children should be disciplined, they removed all parental controls. Look where we are now!

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