Corporal Punishment

As long as the child will be trained not by love, but by fear, so long will humanity live not by justice, but by force. As long as the child will be ruled by the educator’s threat and by the father’s rod, so

long will mankind be dominated by the policeman’s club, by fear of jail, and by panic of invasion by armies and navies.
-- Dr. Boris Sidis, a renowned Psychologist of the 18th century.


A little girl enters the class. It’s the first day at her new school. A while ago she was crying in her mother’s lap as she was scared of going inside where no face looked familiar. Her mother pushes her to go in and finally she does. She’s welcomed by strange faces with even stranger looks. The kids are yelling and talking. One kid starts making fun of her short hair and a group of girls are staring at her inquisitively. The little girl gets overwhelmed but tries to remember that she has to be strong, that it’s just her first day and things will get better with time. Suddenly, a stern looking teacher enters the class and all the kids grind to a complete halt. The teacher clears up her throat and says, “Has everyone brought those coloring pencils that I asked for? Please raise your hands if you have not.” Sheepishly, the little girl raises her hand. The teacher eyes her furiously and comes straight towards her. The girl has no idea what the teacher wants but the next thing she hears is a loud thud on her head. The teacher thrashes her head eight times with a big fat notebook and leaves. The little girl sits there and wonders what her sin was. Her head stops spinning and the tears dry up after a while but an unknown fear starts taking residence in her heart forever….

This is a usual scenario in many educational institutions all across Pakistan. The moment a child is admitted to school, he or she starts serving a sentence of corporal punishment and verbal abuse. No doubt, every child today is somehow affected by violence and abuse at home, on the streets, in the media — somewhere, but this type of child abuse carried out in schools is either ignored or talked about in hushed tones. As a matter of fact, when I started doing my research on this topic, I could hardly find any books or articles on the internet which dealt with this issue. Today, I am not afraid to say that I have also been a victim of child abuse. No, I haven’t been molested or assaulted in any way but I have been a victim of what I call “teacher-abuse”. Reflecting back at my life now, I still feel resentment towards an educational infrastructure where kids are treated with no self-respect and dignity.

There are many teachers who use innocent children as a vent for their own glum and miserable lives but alas, kids are just like sponges and their brains absorb the insults and hatred that’s thrown their way just as easily as anything else. If this kind of behaviour is carried out when the mind is still young, it can leave indelible marks on a child’s brain. Has anyone ever wondered why some children never develop any self-confidence and self-esteem even though they had a loving family and the privilege to attend a school in their childhood? Maybe spanking and verbal abuse inflicted at schools is to blame. There is proven experimental evidence that inflicting torture during the informative years of a child, especially during early education has very destructive effects. As Dr. Boris Sidis, a renowned Psychologist of the 18th century pointed out during a lecture on the abuse of the fear instinct in early education in Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1919: "As long as the child will be trained not by love, but by fear, so long will humanity live not by justice, but by force. As long as the child will be ruled by the educator’s threat and by the father’s rod, so long will mankind be dominated by the policeman’s club, by fear of jail, and by panic of invasion by armies and navies.”

According to scientific research, in early childhood, the brain develops very fast and by age 5, the brain reaches about 90 percent of its adult weight and by 7, it is fully grown. Stresses associated with pain and fear caused by spanking during this sensitive period of brain development, can negatively affect the development and function of a child’s brain. It is precisely during this period of great plasticity and vulnerability that many children are subjected to physical punishment. The effect can actually lead to life-long, everlasting abnormalities of the brain. Also, we should keep in mind that every individual interprets their bitter experiences differently; some children might hide in their shells and close up while some might channel these actions towards hatred and a possible life of criminal behavior.

After moving to North America a couple of years ago, it hit me straight into the head that not only are we as a country, far behind in educational standards, but far behind in moral standards as well. When my baby sister started going to school without a problem, it reminded me of the horrible episode that used to take place every morning when she would throw tantrums just to avoid going to school. After sometime, we discovered that her English teacher (who was also the vice principal) was abusive towards her and that’s why she hated going to school. We tried complaining, but to no avail.

In this part of the world, students have more rights than teachers do. I am not saying that everything is perfect and dandy here. Here, they have their share of much worse problems like drugs, youth gangs and violence at schools to name a few. In fact, all over America school violence is becoming more than just a bully on the playground and shooting and crimes are getting more common. After all, who hasn’t heard about the famous and deadly shooting at the Columbine High school? When do we not hear about kids carrying guns and school violence on the news? Still, when it comes to abuse inflicted solely by teachers, it’s almost non-existent here as compared to what happens anywhere in the developing world where time-tested methods of teaching the kids are carried out including: spanking, grabbing, shaking, shoving, pinching, pulling a child’s hair or ear, hurling objects at a child, forcing a child to remain sitting, standing or motionless for long periods of time and the list goes on and on.

As a rule of thumb, the administrators and principals of the schools are supposed to set higher standards for teacher behaviour but sadly, in many schools there are teachers who habitually hurt children, and some school administrators who lack the will or ability to maintain high professional standards in their school. Some principals are themselves abusive towards children and therefore are incapable of setting a good standard for teachers. Today, it’s not difficult to see that everyone is in there for the money. You can see tons of small and big private schools sprawling across every nook and cranny but there’s no one to set any educational and or moral standards for them. As for the government schools in Pakistan, well, let’s not even go there. The abusive behaviour prevalent in those schools is just too awful to put into words.

I have been both a witness and a victim of every type of classroom punishment, but I still don’t want to sound too cynical. I am still hopeful that the curriculum of abuse in schools can be replaced with a syllabus of kindness and compassion. If I have witnessed a girl who was hit on the face by a teacher and her glasses fell down and broke while a trickle of blood traced down her cheeks, I have also witnessed love and warmth of some nice, able-minded teachers. The main problem in our country is the configuration of this so-called “treat the kids with a beat” mentality-cum-culture. There is no dearth of sensible and literate people in our country and I am sure that organizations like Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE) can easily be launched in Pakistan as well. These types of organizations can be advocates for teaching non-violent methods to teachers and parents for disciplining and socializing children instead of torture and abuse. Once we realize that education and abuse can’t go hand in hand, things will change for the good.

My sister was lucky to escape teacher-abuse at a young age, but as for me, I almost suffered till the very end. Whenever I think about my childhood, an appalling image enters my mind. I see myself standing under the scorching sun, hands on my ears, eyes filled with tears and my frail body going up and down, all the while trying to re-pay for undone sins. I see kids walking by, making fun of me and I see my self-esteem shattering down into little bits and pieces. Yes, I still remember that day when the big fat notebook was smacked on my head eight times….


Sources:
http://www.nospank.net/toc.htm
http://teach er.scholastic.com/professional/teachstrat/worldwithviolence. htm
http://www.verbalabuse.com/12.shtml