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AIBU?

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Original poster

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

371 replies

Voidka · 16/09/2011 11:53

Really?

OP posts:
kat2504 · 16/09/2011 16:09

I am horrified by all these people who think it is ok to beat children with sticks and belts? Do you treat your own kids like that?
This is child abuse pure and simple. If children are violent in school then yes that should be dealt with. If they commit criminal assaults they should get a criminal record and be dealt with by the police.
But beating them is NEVER the answer. Really, you wouldn't treat a dog like that.

ouryve · 16/09/2011 16:11

Hell no :/

diabolo · 16/09/2011 16:13

I'm quite sure that most of the people who want to bring back Corporal Punishment imagine that it would only be used on the "oiky troublemakers" and would be horrified at the thought of their own children being on the receiving end!

kat2504 · 16/09/2011 16:15

Also, would you want your children to be taught by an adult who was in the habit of beating children with implements? Even if you thought yours were little angels, kids sometimes get the blame for something that wasn't their fault...

I would not want to think that I was entrusting a child into the care of someone like that.

notherdaynotherdollar · 16/09/2011 16:17

i remember when a kid in our school got the cane, just happened the once the entire time i was there. He had started a fire in the school.

I remember we were all so shocked that anyone could be so naughty as to get. the. cane.

I think corporal punishment definitely has a place in the armoury of punishments available

kat2504 · 16/09/2011 16:19

Yes but who is going to be doing the caning? I have never ever met a fellow teacher who would be in favour of this, and certainly not one who would be prepared to beat children themselves. Perhaps there are some who don't admit to it, but really, I would have thought pretty much the entire profession would be appalled by the idea.

onagar · 16/09/2011 16:21

Would those objecting to corporeal punishment be okay with the violent ones going to court and then to prison instead? If the only deterrent is an adult saying "oh you really shouldn't kick smaller children in the head - it's not nice" that's not going to work is it. You have to come up with an alternative that will.

diabolo · 16/09/2011 16:21

We had the cane (it was actually a slipper) at my school back around 1980 / 82. A few people were on the receiving end of it and to be fair, it was a very strong deterrant (sp?) to most of us.

We also had a teacher who would throw the blackboard rubber (wooden with cloth on the front) at anyone who misbehaved or talked in his class. That thing used to fly across the room several times each lesson, and found it's target most of the time.

Can you imagine your DC coming home from school with a huge bump and bruise on his/her head and telling you "it's from where Sir threw something at me?"

It's not going to happen is it?

kat2504 · 16/09/2011 16:24

This will be my final post as I am getting a bit frustrated now.
Beating children is never the answer. It won't change their behaviour. If they commit a whole string of criminal offences then they ought to face the consequences. But adult thugs don't go straight to prison for what they do anyway. And this doesn't apply to primary school children below the age of criminal responsibility.
Beating adults is not available as a punishment option. It isn't even allowed for animals FFS. Why should children be treated worse than adults and dogs?

MyRightToAdvice · 16/09/2011 16:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

alliwant · 16/09/2011 16:27

As a teacher, if they wanted me to cane children I would leave the profession. I want to teach and inspire, not humiliate. IMO There has been a breakdown in PARENTAL disipline in our society, and it is not the job of teachers to instill boundaries and respect. Once again teachers are being looked to with regards to fixing society's issues. Do 40% of teachers want caning to be brought back? I think not.

PrincessTamTam · 16/09/2011 16:29

My dad was at a school where they were regularly beaten by the teachers . he is 92 and still scarred by it. He also said that there were teachers who clearly enjoyed it. I'm sorry but that's just wrong, and although I am sure they wouldn't be allowed to use it like that today, its a slippery slope.

YANBU to disbelieve those figures, especially if printed in the DM, all stats can be skewed to say what you want them to say, it's all in the question.

mustdash · 16/09/2011 16:31

At my Scottish primary in the late 70's we didn't have the cane, but the belt was used by a few teachers.

Our P6 teacher had used it 167 times by the end of the year - one of the boys kept a tally in his school bag. The same 6 children were belted every week for not getting full marks in the spelling test - no differentiated work in our class. At the end of the year, only me and one other girl - the daughter of the other P6 teacher hadn't been belted.

I think of the look on the faces of Patricia, Vincent, Christopher, Eileen, Catherine and Angela every week at the start of spelling, any time someone talks about bringing it back. Sad

Mrs Mitchell, I hope you are rotting in hell.

PrincessTamTam · 16/09/2011 16:33

Quite right kat2504.

CurrySpice · 16/09/2011 16:37

I suspect that 49% of parents would like the cane bought back for other people's children but not their own.

It's like transport policy. Evertone thinks it would be a great idea if more people used pubic transport - so long as it's not them that has to give up their cars

CurrySpice · 16/09/2011 16:40

And I would like to make clear that I would be against it. And I mean taking-to-the-streets-civil-disobedience against it

I cannot imagine any teacher (or person tbh) I know wanting to carry out corporal punishment

And the type of person who would want to do it isn't fit to work with children IMO

sistersootica · 16/09/2011 16:40

I agree with you Princess. Just posted my mum's memory on another thread of their primary teacher who was so fond of caning the children he did not like, picking on them and beating them, that when he finally announced his retirement one of the other teachers knocked him out cold after telling him what a sadistic bastard they all thought he was. Bring the cane back? Do me a favour Angry

nagynolonger · 16/09/2011 16:45

What is a loving parent supposed to do when they pack a happy smiling 12 yearold off to school with his dinner money in his pocket only for him to be set on in his form room an hour later. I find it upsetting that 4 boys should hold him down (one on each limb). While the nasty fat one beats him up for his dinner money. Other older lads from next door come in to have a look and shout thump him until he cries!

My 12 yearold is now 18, big, strong and 6'4. The nasty fat one is still just that. If the police or someone (not a teacher!) had given the bully 6 of the best he might not be so frightening to meet on his way home from the pub.

mathanxiety · 16/09/2011 16:46

'Depressing, frankly. Things like this make me question universal suffrage when so many people are clearly off their rockers.'

I have to agree. As my mum said, 'We sent a bloody singing turkey to the Eurovision and now we all get to vote for the government in the middle of this godawful financial crisis..'

My dad's boarding school days were marred by savage beatings of the boys by some notoriously sadistic Jesuits, and the atmosphere that prevailed when it was clear to everyone that they could do as they pleased was on the whole very negative. Boys (and girls) in boarding schools in Ireland for much poorer children had it far worse, sadly. And a lot of boys who attended Christian Brothers day schools (not to mention CB industrial schools) ended up traumatised, as did many teachers who found the terror culture abhorrent. Allowing caning just encourages sadism. My dad would have been completely against it if asked.

I don't think the only alternative deterrent is 'Be nice, children', Onagar, so a bit of a straw man there.

Labradorlover · 16/09/2011 16:46

Had a total bully of a Head Master at my primary school in the 70's. He'd lurk in the corridors and come into the class if he heard someone being told off. He'd then smack the fuck out of the child being told off.

My most unjustified smacking was being "caught" in PE not being able to do a cartwheel.

Corperal punishment should never be brought back.

builder · 16/09/2011 16:51

Most definitely not. The atmosphere in schools nowdays is one of mutual respect and co-operation and corporal punishment would be terrible.

It was still in existence when I was at school and in my primary school one teacher used to hit people with a ruler. It wasn't right, it earned him no respect and was horrible to witness. Even though it never happened to me I hated being at school there. (especially as I had been to two other schools that were much more progressive and interesting to be in).

I would not send my children to school if there was a return to the old ways of doing things....I suspect no-one would!

Cupawoman · 16/09/2011 16:55

As a child in primary school I had to endure the sight of children being caned in front of the class every day - it just so happened that my teacher for that year was the one in charge of caning so every day the children would parade in and be caned. This was primary school and the children being caned were always boys. It sickened me to the stomach then and it still does now. I met this teacher a few years back and he suffered from severe depression and said he found it very difficult to live with the fact that he had done this.

At senior school the pupils caned were again always boys. They were not frightened of the cane as much as the sadistic headmaster who dished it out and always groped their backsides before doing it. Shock

If caning were allowed now DS1, who has proved fairly challenging and confrontational throughout the years, would have been a weekly candidate. He turned out a nice, well mannered, respectful boy in the end without the need for corporal punishment and humiliation.

electra · 16/09/2011 17:02

Sounds tory propaganda bolleaux to me. Most people I know would not dream of smacking their own child especially in public. It has become socially unacceptable and for good reason.

Mum2Luke · 16/09/2011 17:04

When I was at school we would not dare talk in class otherwise you would get the board rubber thrown at you. We didn't have the cane but being sent to the Headmaster in front of class was humiliation itself.

My son's old school (which I hope the youngest will go to) still has front facing desks and the boys all must stand when someone enters the room and address teachers as 'Ma'am and 'Sir'. They don't cane, again just being sent to Mr Turner the Headmaster to explain why you misbehaved would be enough. Pupils get a report card and parents are asked to come in if behaviour is not up to standard. They also have effort grades each quarter which records effort made (or not made) in the term.

giveitago · 16/09/2011 17:06

I think removing the badly behaved kids from school is the best bet.

And do what with them? All kids deserve an education.