المعلمون البريطانيون يفضلون عودة العصا إلى المدارس

[قتيبة]

المعلمون البريطانيون يفضلون عودة العصا إلى المدارس

4 أكتوبر 2008


أظهر استطلاع جديد للرأي نشرت نتائجه صحيفة التايمز الصادرة امس الجمعة أن واحداً من بين كل خمسة معلمين يفضِلون عودة العصا الى المدارس البريطانية.

وقال الاستطلاع الذي شمل 6162معلماً ان تدهور سلوك الطلاب كان السبب الرئيسي وراء تفضيل معلمي المدارس البريطانية استئناف العمل بالعقوبة البدنية.ووجد الاستطلاع أن أساتذة المدارس الثانوية كانوا الأكثر تفضيلاً من معلمي المدارس الابتدائية لاستئناف استخدام العصا وبمعدل 22بالمائة مقابل 16بالمائة، فيما أيدت نسبة 3ر 22بالمائة من معلمي المدارس بشكل عام حق استعمال العقوبة البدنية في حالات معينة.ولاحظ الاستطلاع أن تأييد العودة الى استئناف استخدام العصا كان أقل انتشاراً بين أوساط مديري المدارس ونوابهم ومساعديهم وأيد هذا الاقتراح 12بالمائة منهم فقط.

[قتيبة]

Leave those kids aloneThree compelling reasons why one in five teachers are wrong to call for the return of corporal punishmentAll comments ()

Ariane Sherine guardian.co.uk, Saturday October 04 2008


Thwack! "Owww!" Thwack! "Owww!" That was the sound of my childhood. At home, not at school
as now, when I was growing up, teachers weren't allowed to hit kids. But according to a poll in today's Times Educational Supplement, over 20% wish they could: more than one in five teachers support "the right to use corporal punishment in extreme cases". No doubt desperately trying to quieten a mob full of screaming, brawling juveniles, while thinking back wistfully to the days when short-trousered pupils listened to their teacher in orderly and thoughtful silence, they've decided that physically hurting disruptive children is the way forward.

But they're wrong. Because those kids whose mouths they want to Sellotape shut – the insolent, noisy unteachables who use their compasses to make holes in other kids, and spend lessons carving "MR SMITH IS A BALD WANKER" in the table – are often (though not always) the exact same kids who are already being hit or neglected at home. Maybe, as I was, they're regularly being punished for next to nothing, or perhaps their parents are substance abusers, or are never around. Whatever the problem, trouble at home often spills over into school, causing the child to subconsciously cry for help by being loud, uncontrollable and disruptive. This behaviour understandably leaves teachers desperate for a more forceful form of discipline than shouting, but there are several reasons why reintroducing corporal punishment is not the answer.

Firstly, it teaches all kids that violence should be used as a means to an end. If, when you're a child, a parent hits you without anyone else knowing, you can just about write them off, but if the beating is given by a teacher and sanctioned by the state, the message is clear: violence is an acceptable response to behaviour you don't like. Hey, if your little brother nicks your street gliders, why not whack him senseless with an umbrella till he cries, then hit him even harder? That's what your teacher would do. Telling children not to be violent by using violence against them is nonsensical, and can only perpetuate negativity, anger and fear.

Secondly, teachers using violence will give vulnerable "problem" kids the message that they can't talk to anyone about their worries, or about disturbing events at home. If you're being hurt or neglected by your parent or caregiver, why would you feel able to confide in a teacher who is just as likely and able to turn violent against you? If every adult you know is allowed to hurt you, who can you trust? It may seem safer to stay silent and accept your situation than run the risk that a teacher will take your parents' side, because, after all, they hit children too.

Lastly, bringing back corporal punishment will introduce fear and pain into the process of learning, and make children afraid to go to school. While it may scare some kids into behaving, it'll also cause truancy and suicide rates to increase, along with the number of kids leaving home. If you're being hit both at home and school, why not run away? Sleeping rough can't be worse than being violently punished wherever you are. And there'll be no reason to come home if the punishment on your return is going to be even worse.

How, then, should teachers deal with children who are "extreme cases?" There's no straightforward answer, as all kids are different, but trying to find out why the child is acting out should always be the first step, because well-adjusted kids rarely behave badly. Maybe things are different a decade later, but in 11 years of turbulence at school, which ended in my being expelled aged 16 for a violent incident, not one teacher asked if there was anything wrong at home, or tried to understand what was going on. I don't blame them for this but then, I ended up as one of the lucky ones.

A primary teacher who took part in the TES poll said: "I believe some children just don't respond to the current sanctions." Maybe they receive enough sanctions at home.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/oct/04/schools/print