a \‘shȯrt-rēd’\ piece
When I was ten-years old our family moved from one part of the city to another. This new area was alien to me and it involved a change of school but the change was actually quite a comfortable one.
I did the usual measuring of the bedroom in the old house and compared it to the new and was pleased to see it was bigger. We also now had a garden which the old house did not. School was ok too - I settled in quite quickly, made some good friends and generally I have good memories of my time there. There was one aspect of this new school that I really struggled with, though.
I had been there less than two-weeks when I was called out to the front of the class during a lesson. To this day I’m not sure what the reason was but the teacher was clearly unhappy about something. Call me stupid, but it didn’t occur to me what was going on until he reached behind his desk, took down a cane that was hanging on the wall there and told me to hold my hand out.
I remember very clearly asking if he was planning to hit me with that thing and when he said yes, frankly, I was shocked! I had come from a school that had no corporal punishment to one that clearly did and I genuinely did not understand what this was all about.
I walked out. I didn’t run, I didn’t cry, I just firmly said ‘no you’re not!’ and I left and went home.
It still shocks me to this day that there are some adults who feel it is not only ok to strike a child in this way but also that it does them some good. So, I’m pleased to see that this week (december 2019) the States of Jersey has become the third legislator in the British Isles to ban the corporal punishment of children in all circumstances including the home.
Hitting children is a power issue. Full stop. It is not a positive thing and it needs to stop.
Everywhere.
#playconversation #justsaying #corporalpunishment #childrensrights
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