I 60's Canings
Has anyone read the book ”Corporal Punishment of Schoolgirls” by Margaret Stone?
I just finished reading the third and updated edition from 2014.
Of course, even this latest edition is not completely up to date, as several changes have happened around the world in the meantime.
For instance, even more countries have banned corporal punishment in schools as well as in the homes.
Still, the book gives a thorough impression on methods of corporal punishment and the use of the various implements over time.
Quite naturally, the main emphasis is on the US and UK, but also with well documented accounts from other parts of the world.
Ms Stone may be a bit “over-optimistic” though, when claiming towards the end of the book that sees signs that corporal punishment is coming back several places in the world.
I hardly believe that this is likely to happen, and when I put “over-optimistic” in quotations marks, it is because I myself have mixed emotions about corporal in schools.
I am not blind to the need of discipline in schools in great parts of the world, but giving teachers the right to beat other people´s kids may and will too often lead to abuse.
The claim that teachers act “in loco parentis” (in the place of the parents) is not always true, which Ms Stone also admits by giving several examples of excessive and abusive punishments in schools.
I just finished reading the third and updated edition from 2014.
Of course, even this latest edition is not completely up to date, as several changes have happened around the world in the meantime.
For instance, even more countries have banned corporal punishment in schools as well as in the homes.
Still, the book gives a thorough impression on methods of corporal punishment and the use of the various implements over time.
Quite naturally, the main emphasis is on the US and UK, but also with well documented accounts from other parts of the world.
Ms Stone may be a bit “over-optimistic” though, when claiming towards the end of the book that sees signs that corporal punishment is coming back several places in the world.
I hardly believe that this is likely to happen, and when I put “over-optimistic” in quotations marks, it is because I myself have mixed emotions about corporal in schools.
I am not blind to the need of discipline in schools in great parts of the world, but giving teachers the right to beat other people´s kids may and will too often lead to abuse.
The claim that teachers act “in loco parentis” (in the place of the parents) is not always true, which Ms Stone also admits by giving several examples of excessive and abusive punishments in schools.
61-69, M
