Smackucation

'Smackucation - the art of physical discipline in the hopes of development and growth, of both mental and moral fibre'

It’s all over the media and with one click into the interwebs it doesn’t take much to find the accompanying video footage. Everywhere we look we are graced with the visual proof that the children of today are becoming what society has so long been breeding, yet foolishly hoping would just silently disappear into the shadows of street corners, boring desk jobs, checkout lines at our local Checkers or Spar and maybe even that coveted position at McDonalds.

Hell, I’ve even read that the kids of today actually ASPIRE to be porn stars, because you know, the internet's the new Hollywood now....

Evolution, right…?

It doesn't come as a shocker that the response from the older generations have begun demanding that Corporal Punishment be brought back, and it’s not just the really old, born way back in the day folks either. Uproar from those hailing from the 1980’s and upwards is being added as they express their feels of disgust and rage to the masses as well.

I am no exception. On seeing one of the videos, which showed a student attacking a teacher with a broom HANDED to him by other students egging him on, I was mentally plotting the various punishments I would deal out to those snot nose brats if I ever had the privilege of crossing paths with them.

However, after the rage subsided I began to think: what had led to that?

Sure we can speculate till we’re all blue in the face, but the truth is, we [the public] will never truly know the details. Personally, I feel no matter what went down the students were fully at fault and I praise that teacher for not reacting or even fighting to protect himself, from a BROOM. But the sad part is will justice be given? And when it is ‘supposedly’ given will it be enough?

Then, of course, we have the call to bring back Corporal Punishment.

Frankly it’s a reasonable request if you look at the past few months increase of violence in schools and the resulting punishment that just makes you question whether or not we encourage students to test the system.

How on earth do you expect them to take any sort of authority seriously when you show them that when they attack their fellow classmates brutally and with harmful intent, barely being contained by any teacher brave enough to intervene, that they will be okay for a bit, while the teacher’s life and reputation gets torn to shreds as they are blamed for incompetence or not doing something sooner. But that’s okay, because we must protect the children…

Or when they attack teachers and there needs to be an investigation first before action is taken to prove that it wasn’t the teachers fault, because video footage can be so deceiving…

But let it be a teacher accused of doing something wrong, probably driven to it by

 some mental break or just because they were paedophiles to begin with, we see that action couldn’t be taken fast enough… if someone got through to a news establishment and maybe it was or wasn’t a setup or publicity stunt, who knows.

But that’s of course to show that the government cares for the children and that they protect them… eventually.

But still… we come back to the fact that children are out of hand, so is Corporal Punishment the way to go?

Before I give my answer, let’s look at a few scenarios.

I’d like to think we can all agree that not everybody has had the ‘perfect’ upbringing, by which I refer to the whole ‘white picket-fence’ thing that western TV has imprinted society to picture them all having, or at least trying to have.

Not everyone was lucky enough to have a parent, let alone parents, but it was what it was. Schooling was a privilege some took advantage of and some were given the advantage of taking. Upbringings were not all the same and a lot much more similar than many would ever admit to. And discipline was something that ALWAYS started at home. Don’t agree? Okay, consider this,

Child A was born and raised in a loving family that found discipline a useful tool to use from stopping an innocently ignorant child from touching the heater a second time or leaving their sight to play in the line of oncoming traffic or taking that swirly tasty stick and following Mr. Stranger. Would this child then complain of being punished for breaking serious school rules by an authority figure in their later schooling years, an authority figure that they subconsciously liken to their parents?

Then we have Child B, born into a loving family, but one who feels discipline by hand [or various other at-hand objects] is too extreme. So they resort to talking and resolving things. I imagine in the formative years this would probably not go as planned and the heater wouldn’t be used for some years. I’m also guessing parents would have to be VERY attentive as the child grows to ensure the proper lessons are taught and that the slick-tongued Mr. Stranger and his tasty stuffs are avoided. I can see this family not being pleased with any form of ‘physical’ discipline being dealt to their ‘innocent angels’. But their ‘angels’ got into said trouble now, didn’t they? So what went wrong?

Now we move to Child C, as you guessed, this child didn’t get the happy family and the best of upbringings. Maybe it was by choice, but chances are that’s not the whole truth. These are the children that most teachers of today give up on the minute they enter the classroom or maybe these are the children that hide their crappy lives so well, you can almost believe they aren’t so bad… almost. You see, Child C had one of two upbringings. On one side they were once loved, until something happened that changed home life and made it a place to be visited instead of lived and the on the other side, well let’s just say ‘love’ was the thing you would rather sell than hold onto, had more surety that way. But both upbringings have one thing in common and it doesn’t take much to figure out what.

Violence begets violence. Chances are high Child C knows what it’s like to be hit around, whether by someone they know or not. Taking that in, do you honestly think any sort of authority would be able to get away with laying a hand on them and NOT getting some form of ‘payback’? The parents may not care [unless there’s benefit to them] but the retaliation from the ‘victim’ that’s something to think about.

But let us not forget WHY Corporal Punishment was taken away in the first place, and no it wasn’t because of all that jabber of children’s rights and parent’s feelings and so on… [Okay, maybe a little of it was…] but it was mostly because too many teachers were abusing their power and racism was still rife within the hearts of those fresh from an era just exiting troubled times.

Did we need it gone then? I think we did, but that’s just my observation.

So then, is Corporal Punishment the answer? Should it make a comeback?

My answer, yes I think it should be brought back. However, teacher’s safety must be considered and punishments properly monitored. But most of all, something that will NEVER change, it always starts at home. No matter how much you reprimand a child, if they aren’t getting the cement to build the proper foundation to build on, it’s all pointless.

Alternatives that can be implemented to compensate for the human trash some feel the need to still call parents, can be the investment of counselors who pupils can be comfortable with and talk to. Individuals not ruled by stupid people judgment and school procedure who are free to actually talk to the children and seek the help they need.

As for protecting the children, how about we screen the people who we send to teach them. Train them to defend themselves, teach them quality abilities and techniques to use in teaching the children at acceptable levels and actually assessing them to ensure that they aren’t ‘going off their rocker’.

Also, now it’s a little outside the box, but how about we pay them? You know recognize the people who are molding the minds that will one day be running things while we watch from the sidelines?