Corporal Punishment, Physical Abuse of Students
By way of background, we all know that corporal punishment (the physical beating of a student) in one form or another has not only been in the Bahamian schools system, but around teaching for centuries. It certainly is not a new issue but now the ever controversial topic is receiving more attention as incidences of escalating magnitude continue to arise in our schools, the question is now being asked, “is corporal punishment the correct approach to combat this problem”. This disciplinary method is strongly supported by the teaching society and the Ministry of education, but it is to be used as a tool of last resort. It is a saying that “if you spare the rod you spoil the child”, now more than ever there are not only psychologists concerned but many people are asking if corporal punishment is really the answer to the problems developing.
The general idea is that more effective methods may be implemented in order to produce more desirable results without the use of physical force.
In our schools today there seems to be more incidences where students have to be punished by teachers for offences varying in severity, corporal punishment use to be the correctional method of choice as it was found that this form of punishment ensured that even the most unruly of students were obedient, however alternatives are now being sought as no real results are being produced from this practice.
There once was a time when corporal punishment was seen as a last resort and was only administered in extreme cases. An adult on their recollection of schooling experiences gave this comment, “As I recall, the only person who administered the strap was the principal or the vice-principal of the school. It was pretty much a punishment of last resort. In other words, you had to have done something pretty dreadful to get a strapping. Persistent rudeness and insolence come to mind as reasons for a strapping. Other forms of ‘abuse’ administered by teachers in those days included cuffing a student across the back of the head, rapping his knuckles with a meter stick or ruler and so on. All of that made quite an impression on me as I remember it quite vividly some forty-five years later.
Presently this form of punishment is freely administered in schools, in some cases for the slightest of offences leaving no real alternative available for major...