Wednesday, March 6, 2024
EDITOR, The Tribune.
I must respond to the letter entitled "Physical Punishment is no Answer".
In my opinion, as a proud Bahamian, the writer is confusing corporal punishment with abuse.
He quoted the Buddha, but I will quote the Bible.
The God who created the earth and human beings knows what is best for us.
Proverbs 22:15 says: "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."
Proverbs 29:15 says, "The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings his mother to shame."
These scriptures, along with many others highlight the importance of correction and discipline in the lives of children. Too many children are being left to themselves. They are mini-adults with no idea of what is right or wrong or what is safe or unsafe.
Anyone with eyes to see, who was alive if only for the past 40 years can see how the family structure of this nation has changed, and how the attitude and behaviour of the young people of this nation has changed.
As a person who works closely with teens in our school system, I can attest to the deterioration of the manners, morals and behaviour of school students over the years, due to parents becoming more liberal and lax. Some parents feel that because they have gone to university, they are "sophisticated" and above the traditions and values of our nation. Others harp on slavery and blame it for every problem in the world.
These trains of thought are erroneous and are the reason for the type of young persons we have today. We now have thousands of undisciplined, ill-mannered children who have now become parents and they are passing on this indiscipline and lack of manners and morals to their children.
It is true that some of the best contributors to our nation received corporal punishment and they themselves talk about how it helped to mould them into better people. However, one must point out that our parents of yesterday combined corporal punishment with time, instruction, chores, church (in most cases) and the willingness to allow any decent adult to also discipline their children.
This recipe, along with other things helped to produce a large number of decent, law-abiding citizens.
Many parents of today have a problem with any adult punishing their children. These parents should home school their children.
Children feed off of the nasty attitudes of their parents. School children who have parents with this mindset, come to school with a defiant and rebellious attitude because of what their parents say to them about teachers and administrators.
These are the same children who disrupt classes and schools and often cause fights and other problems. These are also the children who in most cases end up inviting their parents or guardians to court, prison or the graveyard.
Corporal punishment is needed in our schools.
It is the stitch that holds our schools together because the majority of students are not moved by a "talking to". The sight of a cane alone makes them understand that you are serious and therefore fall in line.
Outsiders can criticise, but teachers and administrators who are left with disrespectful, belligerent students for seven hours a day, must be able to use punishment lest we become like our neighbours across the sea. It is crucial to maintaining order in our schools. Those who criticise should be placed in the classroom for three days and experience being cursed out.. disrespected and in some cases assaulted. This is the behaviour of many students of today.
The problem is too many children have been left to themselves by their parents and allowed to run wild like weeds without any discipline or restraint. These are the children, for the most part who are sent to our schools. This is why our schools have so many problems. Schools need all options open to them because of what they are faced with daily.
Whether it be the belt, the cane or the switch from the tree, discipline is needed in the home so that when children go to school, they would already have a foundation of discipline from the home. This does not include breaking bones or beating children until they pass out. We cannot throw out the baby with the bath water.
Physical punishment alone is not the answer, but it is important.
Let's stop trying to be sophisticated and modern and foreign and let's be realistic, proud of our roots, culture and foundation. Let us continue to be who we have always been as Bahamians.
A PROUD BAHAMIAN
Nassau,
March 2, 2024.
Comments
hrysippus says...
As the KJV Bible has over 700,000 words it is almost always possible to pick some that can be used to justify almost any position that you care to take. Thus we have the letter writer picking out a couple of verses from Proverbs to justify his position that parents and teachers should hit the children under their care. Leviticus forbids anyone from eating pork of any kind and also conch, crab, and lobster; these all being creatures that crawl on the bottom of the ocean. Does the letter writer enjoy bacon for breakfast or a conch salad? What is that nine letter word beginning with "H" and ending with "E"?
Posted 6 March 2024, 3:48 p.m. Suggest removal
themessenger says...
Spot on! Not sure what nine letter word you had in mind but here’s one that goes hand in glove with the inflicting of corporal punishment on children, HUMILIATE!
Posted 7 March 2024, 4:44 a.m. Suggest removal
Porcupine says...
You guys are good.
Sadly, the letter writer failed yo spend any time researching the relevant data available to educators and parents for the last 50 years.
Or, countries that Never hit their kids, yet have no crime or disrespect problems.
And, the lack of connection of following a group of illiterate pastors religious interpretation of the bible.
The resounding commonality of all who argue for continued corporal punishment is that they all blame the victim. Always.
A rape victim is asked what she was wearing. An abused woman is asked what she did to deserve her beating.
The level of brainwashing of these so-called Christians is complete.
One only needs to look at the crime statistics in this country to realize we should be looking foreign, or anywhere else, to seek the answers that so far have completely eluded us.
We are witnessing a national failure. From our educational system, parenting and certainly from the abject failure of those we raised to become so-called leaders.
Look at parliament.
Lack of corporal punishment for all of them?
Most were probably beaten senseless, hence the total lack of empathy and intelligence they appear to possess.
Posted 7 March 2024, 7:41 a.m. Suggest removal
joeblow says...
... what's interesting to me is that the commenters above should be old enough to remember when our people were more mannerly, disciplined and conscientious that those of the past few decades. Tourists who came to our shores, spoke of how pleasant and mannerly our people were back then. Those people were raised on the same Christian values espoused by the writer, and mocked by the pontificators; children lovingly corrected, but not abused. I was one of them and I think I turned out pretty ok.
Sad the pontificators can't distinguish the difference between purposeful discipline and abuse and they fail to see how our straying from the values that had us more grounded as a people then is at the root of all our social ills now! But then again, pontificators will pontificate!
Posted 7 March 2024, 5:08 p.m. Suggest removal
hrysippus says...
Hi Joeblown, thanks for pontificating so well. Please continue to beat all those that you come in contact with, and check back in 17 years so we can see how it all turned out. so sad.....
Posted 7 March 2024, 10:17 p.m. Suggest removal
themessenger says...
@joeblow, this pontificator was born and raised in the fifties when this country was both a more gentle and civilized place to live in.
The Christian, moral values and manners instilled in me as a child had little to do with corporal punishment, although I received a fair amount of that both at home and in school, but more to do with the sense of duty, respect and pride of being part of a community.
Even the poorest of our society were raised with these values.
Violent crimes against persons, murder in particular were almost unheard of, one murder would set the entire country on its ear.
So where and when did we as a people lose our moral compass? How did we degenerate into the mindless vicious beasts who destroy what little is left of our civility today.
You sir, like the letter writer,pontificate that it is the lack of the rod which has done the damage, although with all of the beatings bestowed on our young people by their families and associates one would have thought we were living in utopia.
Beating begets more beating, violence begets more violence and more importantly ignorance begets more ignorance!
Posted 7 March 2024, 6:46 p.m. Suggest removal
joeblow says...
... not sure how you divined that from my comments because I spoke clearly about "loving correction" "not abuse." It is clear to me that people fail to recognize that harsh words will hurt a person far longer that corporal punishment will. A parent calling their child stupid or no good will stay with that child for the rest of their lives, when 2 or 3 lashes from a belt will be quickly forgotten. If you want to deal with a real issue, address the verbal abuse that people experience! No cut behind needed to leave deep permanent emotional scars!!
Posted 8 March 2024, 6:35 p.m. Suggest removal
hrysippus says...
JoeBloat; thanks for your response. You write; "It is clear to me that people fail to recognize that harsh words will hurt a person far longer that corporal punishment will". While not necessarily disagreeing with your statement totally, I am curious as to how you have this conclusion. Anecdotal personal experience? Reading scientific papers on child psychology? your own internet research? Reading the Torah? Or just a personal opinion?
Posted 10 March 2024, 7:24 p.m. Suggest removal
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