Posted by spoonman Thursday 1 November, 2007 12:56 AM
Should the cane be reintroduced in schools to help discipline todays youth? Or is it a form of strange and inhumane punishment? Have your say...
During a wide-ranging discussion this week on why we, as a society, seem to be getting more violent and aggro, a lot of calls, emails and sms came in saying we should bring back the cane - reintroduce corporal punishment in schools.
Many listeners claimed that being caned at school taught kids of the time to respect - or at least fear - authority figures.
A lot of you also think getting the cane for breaking the rules provided students with a consequence for their actions that actually meant something - as opposed to detention, which is often seen as too 'soft'.
There does seem to be a growing support for the use of the cane when students are involved in incidents of violence. The argument is that if violence is the language being used by kids, then using similar 'language' as punishment is something violent students will understand.
But critics of corporal punishment in schools claim that teaching kids not to be violent by using violence - the cane - is not going to work.
Many parents also baulk at the notion their kids will be hit by teachers.
But it is possible these are the very parents whose kids lack any kind discipline at home.
For what it's worth, my parents always thought any caning I got - and there was some - was most likely thoroughly deserved. In other words, they left the school to make that determination. They trusted the school to make that judgement.
So what are the pros and cons of reintroducing corporal punishment?
And should that kind of punishment be handed out to both genders - boys and girls?
Because when I was at school, the cane was only for boys, and of course, the girls got away with murder because they knew the worst they would cop was a detention.
It's also worth pointing out this was a time when all girls were considered sweet and innocent, and that only boys could be really bad. We know today that is anything but true.
So would bringing the cane back to schools do any good to curb what is seen as a lack of respect and an absence of discipline in some young people these days?
Should we reintroduce the cane?
Over to you....
