The rough end of the stick

Updated on: Monday, July 05, 2010

We’ve all heard about the caning at La Martiniere for Boys, Kolkata. While the suicide that followed may or may not be connected, the caning remains a tragic, but not uncommon issue, as are squatting in the heat and dusters flying across the classrooms world over.

I can’t claim to know anything about Indian school life, since I received all 12 years of my general education in the US. My father, however , has regaled me with tales of his private schooling in India, on how it became a common practice to stuff magazines down his shorts, how it was an honour to be beaten across the buttocks. To him, the bright red stripes were military decorations, and he was well-known for pulling all kinds of stunts that got him the short end of the stick. Literally.

I went to a public school in Minnesota in the Midwest. I have never been beaten by a teacher. Of course, he accused my high school of not ‘teaching like it matters.’ Apparently, you learn more when your bottom is on the line. Honestly, I can’t say that I feel cheated out of a magical experience.

I will concede that American high schools aren’t exactly known for their world-class curriculum and high output of genius youths. But what they do have are students who learn because they want to learn, not because someone will pummel the knowledge into their heads if they don’t do it themselves.

I can’t claim that I was a model student . I am, however, happy with my high school career, mainly because I felt like the teachers wanted me to learn rather than rot away in my desk. Whenever I missed an assignment, it was my responsibility to make it up and catch up with the rest of the class, sometimes write an extra paper to clean my slate of the tardiness. If I missed class, I’d have to prove to the teacher that I know the subject matter. In my last year of school, many of my teachers weighted grades on the tests, so it was our own responsibility to get the grade we wanted. Though teachers would take action if grades lagged behind, they would offer numerous opportunities for additional lectures, tutoring and alternative explanations. Every student is a different individual ; teachers should be flexible enough to keep up with all of them.

As noted by several others, a teacher who resorts to corporal punishment is a teacher who can’t get his/her students interested in learning. But why is the teacher taking all the blame? I’m not saying that students everywhere should discover a fiery passion for something during class VI and take no pleasure in life until your dreams have been completely realised. To say that would make me the biggest hypocrite I know, as I’m starting college in two months and I still don’t have much of a dream laid out for myself. But school is a place where a child grows into an adult — not through beatings, but by learning about himself. It’s the experiences while growing up that made me what I am today, and I’m quite glad that a cane on my rump isn’t one of them.

And discipline? Caning is out of place there as well. In fact, it encourages children to be more unruly, and it gives them a model to follow. Violence begets violence, as the saying goes, and children are impressionable. Resorting to the stick for everything only teaches the youth that violence is a solution.

Instead, reach out to your kids when they misbehave and teach them that what they’ve done is wrong. It’s actually easier than wasting the strength on a thrashing.

Sadly, there’s the assumption that private schools are supposed to uphold a reputation, to put on a display of prestige to the parents of prospective students. As if caning is some sort of knighting ceremony for the rear. It’s a shame that we put so much emphasis on how well-known a school is when, in reality, all it takes to succeed anywhere is a strong desire to learn.

To me, many of the expectations forced on the youth are dehumanising and humiliating, as if children are rebellious cattle that have to be prodded towards a lake. School isn’t for driving cattle; it’s for self-actualisation . You can’t beat someone until he grows up, and he shouldn’t boast that you had to do it for him.

Times of India

The rough end of the stick

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