To not believe that 40% of parents want to bring back the cane?

[Voidka]

Really?

I received the cane at school. However only across my palms as it was for forgetting to put sub headings into a history lesson. I was never naughty enough for the head master to set about my backside!

We did get the chalk dusters (like wooden bricks with felt on one side) thrown at us though for lack of attention/talking etc.

I don't think you can bring back the cane in modern times. However DD's school has excellent standards of discipline and it all comes down from the head who doesn't let them get away with anything. There are strict rules on dress and behaviour and nobody is allowed to get away with a thing. Even hair grips in the wrong colour or fashionable hair styles are stamped out. Swearing or difficult behaviour - very rare - would result in detentions.

It may seem draconian but I think the kids thrive on the fact it is fair to all and they know where they stand.

Dh got the belt just once in his school career: at secondary school, where the class was told by their (Maths?) teacher on a Monday morning that the next time they saw him, they must have thier books covered. Fine, they thought - we don't have Maths again until Wednesday.

Except that the (English?) teacher was off and the Maths teacher was covering for him that afternoon. So the entire class, bar two boys who had home lunches and therefore been able to cover the books at lunchtime (this was a grant aided state school that took kids from all over the city, so most couldn't go home at lunchtime), were lined up and given the belt for not having covered their books "by the next time they saw him"

The bastard knew that morning that he would be seeing the boys in the afternoon and was setting them up to fail. :(

That's nothing to do with discipline and everything to do with sadism.

"Caning - would you bring it back ?"

No. Now can we get this out of discussions of the day please? - it's had a good run.

Sorry to hear of people's bad experiences

Why? People obviously find it interesting.

I'm just a bit bored with it.

(As a discussion. As I said if you've had bad experiences of this you have my sincere sympathy)

Flounces off ... but not as far as flouncer's corner !

Thumbwitch I totally agree that discipline should start at the home and that teachers can't be expected to rectify everthing in school time.
Teachers and schools should have the back-up so that they can enforce discipline (not by caning) detention etc... or something else
Mathanxiety maybe some families do see school as part of the wallpaper, but that is where the parents of those children need to be convinced that school can give their own children opportunities! (but they have to play their part too)

No to bring back caning : It may scare some kids into behaving, having the threat of the cane, I went to a secondary all boys school back in the early 60s and hardly a week went by without me getting caned on both hands & backside by male & female teachers, not because I was badly behaved but my father died when I was 11 years old and I found it hard to concentrate in lessons and fell behind the rest of the kids academically ,Their answer to this problem was 6 of the best, this treatment just alienated me from the other kids ,I remember one lad saying to me, " my mum said I can't see you any more because you are too rough always getting caned " and she did stop him being my pal. One lad was obese and the gym teacher would make us climb up the ropes , and this lad could not get his weight off the ground so the teacher would take of his daps and Wack this lad across his back several times. Again not a bad lad . Criminals probably have an easier time than us school kids did back then.

i wouldent bring it back and it might not work in these times they might end up taking of teacher and hitting them with it instead and i dont want any teacher hitting mine with a cane they can bog of

bloody ridiculous. Moreover... these days woiuldn't one of the kids just pull out a knife and stab you in return if you tried to cane them anyway

flatbellyfella,
This is such a sad tale. Another reason why caning shouldn't even be on the 'radar'.

Back on again to say Bloody hell flatbellyfella that's terrible how they treated you when you'd just lost your Dad

They had the cane at DHs school, he doesn't seem bothered or scarred by it - in fact most of his stories are about the things they made to pad their bums. He says a well placed word from a respected teacher had far more impact.

The bigger issue in too many schools now is there is just too little discipline of any sort so it's not an environment where kids can learn. Bringing back the teacher' right to administer discipline is key, not caning per se.

OMG! I can't believe the % of this! in this day and age to bring back condoned violence against children! I am appalled ! - I am extremely against this! It is wrong on so many levels, what kind of society is it that wants to teach children it's ok for an adult to hit them with an object if they misbehave? Every person I have spoken to who has said ' oh it never did me any harm' are the ones who seem to have the most issues in life ! What about teachers who take a dislike to certain children for no apparent reason? my DS has suffered from this at his secondary school (I had to intervene twice!) - I would never allow anyone to hurt my child ever ! and certainly not some sadist wielding a cane !!!! Shame on anyone who would condone this!!!!

My son (who is 19 now) was a challenge to his teachers with his behaviour,which he openly admits. He spent more time outside the classroom for being disruptive than he did in it. He was amazed he managed to gain C grades in most of his GCSEs, as he did very little learning as a result of the disciplinary methods available to the teachers. He believes that the cane would have acted as a deterrent for him, and he would have been more likely to engage in his learning, and possibly could have done much better.

The cane was a rumour in my school in the 60s. My brothers' school was a very different story. 6 of the best was normal, and I can promise that there were some teachers who seriously enjoyed it.

I would not support this move, not in a million years.

if an adult hits another adult with a stick it's assault, isn't it?

Haven't read all the thread. Before I clicked on the link in OP I thought Daily Mail. As a Secondary school teacher I would find it very hard to stay in my profession if caning was part of our disciplinary procedure, despite being the main earner in our family.

yearofthetiger I have to challenge and question your son's belief that the cane "would have acted as a deterrent for him, and he would have been more likely to engage in his learning". The chances are that even if the cane was brought back it would come at the end of other measures to correct behaviour and the chances are your son would have already disrupted not just his own, but the learning of the 29 others in the class quite significantly before he got to the caning stage. My last measure is contact home and I find that the regularly disruptive students become quite clever at correcting themselves before they get to that stage. They have however usually managed to waste quite a bit of learning time for all of us by then.

It should be brought back on those bullying cows on the bullying thread on AIBU

Larks35, I don't say caning is right, I just think it's interesting that he thinks that. I agree it's more complicated than that, and although my son, thankfully,appears to have come out the other side of whatever he was going through (and putting us all through!),I too doubt it would have been a positive move, because his head was in a very different place then from where it is now. Thus, he wouldn't have viewed in the same way at all. It was quite a complex situation, which we can't discuss here.

yearofthetiger - sorry I think I felt a little incensed by your son's perspective as the idea that someone who merrily disrupted lessons to then turn around and say he wouldn't have done it if someone had beaten him with a stick quite frankly makes me feel sick. It does sound like your son has come through a stage and perhaps now does not quite like the person he was at the time. I seriously doubt that caning would have helped him though, it is more likely that he would have disengaged with school, you and any authority even further.