ONE of the things I learnt very early in life is that there are consequences for my actions. Looking back at that axiom I can safely say that it has kept me in the straight and narrow and brought my life to the successful place that it is.

I must say that I am no Saint Michael taking my behaviour into context, because in my growing-up years I might have busted a few heads and in turn had mine busted too. The road I was traversing would have certainly landed me either in jail or in the morgue. I had to control my anger. Thanks go out to my mom who used to say in disciplining me “I will drive the demon out of you to no where” and my caring teachers. And so it was, I had to straighten up and fly right, well, I had no choice because the system that I came up under was to straighten up or you knew what to expect. It worked for me and I know it worked for countless others. This is my point as we discuss “corporal punishment.”
The so called modern thinkers are harping on a misapplied theory of all that takes place in schools or homes is licks, licks and more licks. As if teachers and parents have nothing else to do with their time but to cane their children incessantly. That’s the key concept of their argument, failing to recognise the fact that for every evil act you make you must account. You cannot behave unseemly and expect others to put up with that nonsense; you do the crime you must do the time.

And this is my problem with those against punishment for the errant. In essence what they want is to behave like fools and in turn expect society to exhibit unending tolerance with the misfits. “You have no right to touch my child, you are not his/her father”is fine by me, but you must keep that kind of behaviour for your father and mother or simply put, you might as well stay at home. This form of twisted thinking is also evident in some quarters where persons believe they can shoot, rob, douse another with gasolene, take someone else’s life and in turn expect no punishment at all. There should be no redress; for the errant, this constitutes cruel and inhumane treatment.
Well, I am happy to inform such individuals to beware of that “freedom” or “democracy.” Freedom and rights are there for you as well as for me. Or should I remind these folks that freedom has consequences or rightly said freedom has rules. No wonder we are at the place where proper behaviour is considered taboo and abnormal behaviour should be treated as “the child can’t do better”, so society should understand. Yes, I do understand what should happen to those who confirm to standard rules and practices of civilised behaviour. He/she should be given their just deserts while at the same time I must honour and uplift those who do the right things. That’s why at my school we focus our attention and reward those who fall in the latter grouping. The misunderstanding in our debate is you do not have to beat a child for him to do the right thing, what I uphold is, that form of punishment is useful and necessary for those who do not want to confirm to existing norms. To take it off the books as some countries have done is sending the wrong message and the statistics are there to prove me right; valuable contact hours, time and money is now wasted on disciplinary matters when that time could have been well spent on helping those who know their purpose in life.
As I mentioned in a previous letter, that is not going to happen where this teacher is concerned. I am there to take care of those who are ready and willing to do their work; my job is not cut out to tolerate undisciplined kids. Sorry folks, I am happy to disappoint. Most parents of out-of-place kids are in the habit of coming to the school at the drop of a hat when their child is disciplined and in most cases that parent would utter the words the teacher “does not like my child or the teacher is picking on my child.” Thankfully, no parent has ever had the courage to say those words to me because I would greet the parent in the affirmative. Quite rightly, I would respond by saying I am not in school for him/her to like me; they must like their work and in tandem I would like them. Failing this you are in no man’s land in my book. I am not in the classroom to accommodate any child’s bad behaviour period, end of discussion. One such parent had the courage to confront my fellow Guyanese teacher here with those words to which my colleague thanked that parent for informing him so that he from that point on will know how to deal with the case. Hardly a week had passed when the parent returned to school in tears saying that she does not know what to do with the boy, he is not listening to her anymore. I would have responded by saying “do not take your pride and joy” to make my sorrow I have very many more important things to do with my time. Thankfully that was not the response of my colleague; he was “more accommodating”; he offered his sympathy to the parent by giving her some tips on child-rearing.

I close my debate with another story that took place in my Barbados teaching years. My school was burdened; I use the term burdened because that’s what the situation is when these misfits are in your midst. This guy is known to have maimed a few classmates. This youngster had no respect for authority either, because warnings, pep talks nor any of those “modern corrective” measures are all considered a big joke in his scheme of things. He was a regular visitor to the counsellor’s office because as the modern thinker rightly concludes, something is bothering the boy and the “cure for all counselling’ would help. When counselling failed miserably the next stage of this Christian institution was prayer. Yes, prayer changes people or does it?  His home room teacher held a prayer session with the lad who quite fittingly whilst her eyes were tightly shut agonising on his behalf quietly got up and walked out. When the intercessor teacher opened her eyes to her dismay the boy was gone. Now, you need no rocket science brain to come to grips with what should have been the punishment most fitting for the lad. Here ends my debate on this subject.