The show “I Not Stupid 2” gave me the inspiration for a few more posts. For a long time, I have wanted to mention on corporal punishment and discipline in schools, but thought it was a rather sensitive issue. Since that is allowed on big screen cinemas, I believe it should be allowed on my blog too.
When I became a teacher, it was with the full understanding that we were not allowed to hit the kids or dish out corporal punishment in any way. Kids nowadays are of a different generation where they have become so “soft” that even simple remarks like “You are so lazy” or “Why do you not understand what I say” are not allowed, let alone hitting the kid in any way.
I remember when I was in school, I was often insulted by my primary school teachers. My primary school teachers had a habit of asking students to demonstrate problems on the board in front of the whole class.
So each time I could not solve a Mathematics problem in upper primary, my teacher would taunt me in front of the class by saying that I was blind since I could not see the figures in front of me and everyone would laugh. I used to hate that as it was not as if I did not have enough insults back home.
My secondary school teachers are not that bad actually, probably because I was in a girl’s school and caning in any form was not allowed for girls, thus never got to witness public caning. Still my school students never gave any form of real trouble, although there were a few wild girls. There were no such things like gang fights or triads or shoplifting.
But as a teacher, sometimes it is hard to do one’s job properly if your hands are tied so to speak. I am not against corporal punishment provided it is done in moderation. Some of those kids really needed a smacking before they can learn their lessons.
I caned a kid before in front of my Principal, but it was not a public caning, just behind closed doors in the Principal’s office. And it was caning on the hand, not the behind. This kid stole my mobile phone and sold it to a second-hand handphone dealer, yet lied about it, and it was his friend who felt guilty and spilled everything to my Discipline Master who retrieved the phone for me.
I was not there when the parents were called in, but they gave their permissions for the caning, although they requested for a private caning even though the school rules stated that students would be caned in public for serious offences like theft.
And since parents disagreed, there would be no public caning. Such is the system now that schools all have to bow down to the parents’ wishes, which is why some parents think they can “run” the school and control the teachers in their own ways.
My parents and the other teachers were in favour of the public caning and felt that the principal should adhere to the school rules, otherwise the other students in the know would do the same thing. But for me, I know how it was like to be caned, and since the kid had apologized to me and the offence was never repeated, I let it go.
In the show “I Not Stupid 2”, the student was so shamed after the public caning that he felt he had died. To top it off, his classmates played mean jokes by re-enacting his caning scene. Sometimes kids can be the most merciless people in the world. They thought they knew everything but actually all they wanted were to have fun and never cared how others’ felt.
Some time back, a teacher was filmed by a student’s camera phone for scolding a China student and tearing his assignment to shreds. I cannot say that the teacher was not in the wrong as she should not tear anyone’s assignment in the first place.
I never tore my students’ homework no matter how badly they did. The most I ever did was to throw their books or worksheets in front of the students, and actually even that was not allowed. I would get into a lot of trouble if anyone ever found out but since I am already out of the industry I can say it with no worries.
Anyway the teacher was teaching in one of the top junior colleges, and for even a local student who manages to enter the school, it is already quite something, let alone a China student. It is the school that caters exclusively to the cream of the cream of the crop. So must the teacher tear the assignment to shreds just because it was not up to her expectations?
But the student who took the clip and later uploaded to the Net was even more at fault. In the first place, what was he trying to do? Get others into trouble? And in the second place, the classroom is supposed to be the teacher’s haven, so she has some liberty on how to handle the students.
No matter how at fault she was, being her student, he had no right to take the clip of her doing that then uploading to the Net. Then why did he not take her clip when she was teaching effectively? It was a downright disrespect to the teacher and indirectly implying that schools nowadays teach kids to be so bold.
But the thing was that no one focused on the kid who uploaded the clip. Everyone just focused on the teacher tearing the student’s assignment and started an uproar on why teachers could do this and got away with it, how could teachers do this to students, etc. Are kids made of cotton wool nowadays that anything could not be done to them or any of their property at all?
So because of this, the teacher was given a warning and made to apologise to the student, and the student who took the clip got away with it. Due to that, other kids may just become equally bold and take a video of their teacher scolding or reprimanding the student in any way and upload to the Net and create another big uproar.
There was another incident on a principal giving a student a whack on the head with a book. That created another uproar and the principal was forced to resign and now he was transferred to the Ministry where there would be no kids around for him to handle.
This indirectly tells people that anytime anyone felt their kid or any student got insulted be it by a mere hit or words or tearing up assignments, anyone could just complain or sue. Thus parents and students would become more arrogant and create trouble over the littlest thing. Bad news for all educators around.
The thing was that he was a good principal. My friend who had been in his school was full of praises for him, saying how effectively he ran the school. And for such an experienced principal to lose his cool at a student, I believe the student must have been really incorrigible and made him totally pissed off in the first place.
This incident became rather big as lots of controversy arose. Some people said that the principal was wrong to even hit the kid. Why, are kids not allowed to be hit nowadays no matter how out of hand they are?
Some people said the principal did the right thing since they were brought up on corporal punishment as well. The feedback from students and parents were that the principal should be sued on abusing the kid.
What abuse was that?! If they call a whack on the head with a book abuse, then what about beating another person till one bleeds? If that is abuse, then I can sue my parents for abuse and malpractice many times over. And just because of this one incident, everyone forgot how good a principal he was and the school lost a good principal and the Ministry a good educator just like that.
Having been a teacher, I know how hard it is to teach a class of fourty students, with every student coming from different family backgrounds. Some are angels at home but devils in school, some come from families where the mother sleeps around and they do not even know who their real father was.
Some come from families where the parents are so busy working that they do not even have time to discuss about their kids’ problems. Some come from broken families where they were shuttled from relative to relative as both parents refused to take custody of the kid.
Kids from messed-up families normally create the most problems in school, and if these kids’ parents genuinely could not be bothered and let the kid run amok all the time, it is then the teacher’s and the school’s job to help in educating.
And by education, I do not mean just book learning. It also includes inculcating values like discipline, kindness, consideration and showing respect to others. And if it takes a whacking to make the kid learn, then I am all for it.
But ultimately, it lies with parents. Kids look up to the parents more than anything else, so if being parents and they do not want to take care of their kid, how can they expect anyone else to help them take care of their kid?
If they want teachers and schools to take care of their kid, then they should allow the educators to dish out whatever punishment and discipline deem fit as long as the kid learns and become better, and not turn around and blame the school if the kid got punished when all along they have no time to discuss their kids’ problems.
True, public caning and corporal punishment may not work on every kid. There are other methods like counselling and positive reinforcement. But I still think that at times, corporal punishment is inevitable and teachers and schools should be given more liberty on how to discipline the kid as part and parcel of education. I am speaking this not from an educator’s (or an ex-educator) point of view, but as a member of the general public.
When I became a teacher, it was with the full understanding that we were not allowed to hit the kids or dish out corporal punishment in any way. Kids nowadays are of a different generation where they have become so “soft” that even simple remarks like “You are so lazy” or “Why do you not understand what I say” are not allowed, let alone hitting the kid in any way.
I remember when I was in school, I was often insulted by my primary school teachers. My primary school teachers had a habit of asking students to demonstrate problems on the board in front of the whole class.
So each time I could not solve a Mathematics problem in upper primary, my teacher would taunt me in front of the class by saying that I was blind since I could not see the figures in front of me and everyone would laugh. I used to hate that as it was not as if I did not have enough insults back home.
My secondary school teachers are not that bad actually, probably because I was in a girl’s school and caning in any form was not allowed for girls, thus never got to witness public caning. Still my school students never gave any form of real trouble, although there were a few wild girls. There were no such things like gang fights or triads or shoplifting.
But as a teacher, sometimes it is hard to do one’s job properly if your hands are tied so to speak. I am not against corporal punishment provided it is done in moderation. Some of those kids really needed a smacking before they can learn their lessons.
I caned a kid before in front of my Principal, but it was not a public caning, just behind closed doors in the Principal’s office. And it was caning on the hand, not the behind. This kid stole my mobile phone and sold it to a second-hand handphone dealer, yet lied about it, and it was his friend who felt guilty and spilled everything to my Discipline Master who retrieved the phone for me.
I was not there when the parents were called in, but they gave their permissions for the caning, although they requested for a private caning even though the school rules stated that students would be caned in public for serious offences like theft.
And since parents disagreed, there would be no public caning. Such is the system now that schools all have to bow down to the parents’ wishes, which is why some parents think they can “run” the school and control the teachers in their own ways.
My parents and the other teachers were in favour of the public caning and felt that the principal should adhere to the school rules, otherwise the other students in the know would do the same thing. But for me, I know how it was like to be caned, and since the kid had apologized to me and the offence was never repeated, I let it go.
In the show “I Not Stupid 2”, the student was so shamed after the public caning that he felt he had died. To top it off, his classmates played mean jokes by re-enacting his caning scene. Sometimes kids can be the most merciless people in the world. They thought they knew everything but actually all they wanted were to have fun and never cared how others’ felt.
Some time back, a teacher was filmed by a student’s camera phone for scolding a China student and tearing his assignment to shreds. I cannot say that the teacher was not in the wrong as she should not tear anyone’s assignment in the first place.
I never tore my students’ homework no matter how badly they did. The most I ever did was to throw their books or worksheets in front of the students, and actually even that was not allowed. I would get into a lot of trouble if anyone ever found out but since I am already out of the industry I can say it with no worries.
Anyway the teacher was teaching in one of the top junior colleges, and for even a local student who manages to enter the school, it is already quite something, let alone a China student. It is the school that caters exclusively to the cream of the cream of the crop. So must the teacher tear the assignment to shreds just because it was not up to her expectations?
But the student who took the clip and later uploaded to the Net was even more at fault. In the first place, what was he trying to do? Get others into trouble? And in the second place, the classroom is supposed to be the teacher’s haven, so she has some liberty on how to handle the students.
No matter how at fault she was, being her student, he had no right to take the clip of her doing that then uploading to the Net. Then why did he not take her clip when she was teaching effectively? It was a downright disrespect to the teacher and indirectly implying that schools nowadays teach kids to be so bold.
But the thing was that no one focused on the kid who uploaded the clip. Everyone just focused on the teacher tearing the student’s assignment and started an uproar on why teachers could do this and got away with it, how could teachers do this to students, etc. Are kids made of cotton wool nowadays that anything could not be done to them or any of their property at all?
So because of this, the teacher was given a warning and made to apologise to the student, and the student who took the clip got away with it. Due to that, other kids may just become equally bold and take a video of their teacher scolding or reprimanding the student in any way and upload to the Net and create another big uproar.
There was another incident on a principal giving a student a whack on the head with a book. That created another uproar and the principal was forced to resign and now he was transferred to the Ministry where there would be no kids around for him to handle.
This indirectly tells people that anytime anyone felt their kid or any student got insulted be it by a mere hit or words or tearing up assignments, anyone could just complain or sue. Thus parents and students would become more arrogant and create trouble over the littlest thing. Bad news for all educators around.
The thing was that he was a good principal. My friend who had been in his school was full of praises for him, saying how effectively he ran the school. And for such an experienced principal to lose his cool at a student, I believe the student must have been really incorrigible and made him totally pissed off in the first place.
This incident became rather big as lots of controversy arose. Some people said that the principal was wrong to even hit the kid. Why, are kids not allowed to be hit nowadays no matter how out of hand they are?
Some people said the principal did the right thing since they were brought up on corporal punishment as well. The feedback from students and parents were that the principal should be sued on abusing the kid.
What abuse was that?! If they call a whack on the head with a book abuse, then what about beating another person till one bleeds? If that is abuse, then I can sue my parents for abuse and malpractice many times over. And just because of this one incident, everyone forgot how good a principal he was and the school lost a good principal and the Ministry a good educator just like that.
Having been a teacher, I know how hard it is to teach a class of fourty students, with every student coming from different family backgrounds. Some are angels at home but devils in school, some come from families where the mother sleeps around and they do not even know who their real father was.
Some come from families where the parents are so busy working that they do not even have time to discuss about their kids’ problems. Some come from broken families where they were shuttled from relative to relative as both parents refused to take custody of the kid.
Kids from messed-up families normally create the most problems in school, and if these kids’ parents genuinely could not be bothered and let the kid run amok all the time, it is then the teacher’s and the school’s job to help in educating.
And by education, I do not mean just book learning. It also includes inculcating values like discipline, kindness, consideration and showing respect to others. And if it takes a whacking to make the kid learn, then I am all for it.
But ultimately, it lies with parents. Kids look up to the parents more than anything else, so if being parents and they do not want to take care of their kid, how can they expect anyone else to help them take care of their kid?
If they want teachers and schools to take care of their kid, then they should allow the educators to dish out whatever punishment and discipline deem fit as long as the kid learns and become better, and not turn around and blame the school if the kid got punished when all along they have no time to discuss their kids’ problems.
True, public caning and corporal punishment may not work on every kid. There are other methods like counselling and positive reinforcement. But I still think that at times, corporal punishment is inevitable and teachers and schools should be given more liberty on how to discipline the kid as part and parcel of education. I am speaking this not from an educator’s (or an ex-educator) point of view, but as a member of the general public.
5 comments:
Spent my 6 years in an all-boys Junior High and Senior High in Jakarta and boy they did surely impose strict discipline.
During the olden days when the old teachers are still around, we did get our fair share of corporal punishment!
Sometime we get slapped (depending on the offense), and someone even get caned until the ruler that was used was broken into 2 pieces. No parents were dared to go complain because the headmaster is 100% behind the teacher - if they're not happy, they can jolly well quit the school! (oh ya my school accept student at a rate of 1 to 7-10 applicants.. so I won't quit school no matter)
And actually i am glad we did get that punishment. I think it instill many values that are lasting until now. Many of the graduates have became successful businessman, careerman & even some made into the ministrial cabinet.
But now, the new teacher came in and they all are surely mellow in term of punishment. They got joked and played around... sometime with very little respect. I went back a couple of years after i graduated and it indeed felt different. Something is missing.
I totally agree. NOw with the non-corporal punishment policy, students are getting more and more out of hand. And mostly it is not the teacher's fault since their hands are tied as well. With naughtier kids, punishement should be stricter, not the other way round.
Yup, I still recalled when one of my classmate put live frog (left over from previous bio class) inside of the teacher drawer when a new female teacher turned to teach the class. The teacher found out and justifily startled; however instead of confronting the student, the teacher flee and cry.
Man! if that one was the older teacher, we might get grounded from going out of class until someone confessed (maybe stay over night at school!) or everyone get canned if no one confessed . Those memories of the punishments and our mischiefs are indeed very lasting :-)
Can't really blame the new teacher. She never expected her first day to be like that. Although of course she should have exercised her authority instead of just crying and leaving the classroom.
Frog legs yummy...
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