Controllmg children
As a headmaster, I agree with Dr Rhodes Boyson ( January 12) that there is a problem of dealing effectivlY with violent and refractory children in schools. There are, heweyer, obvious difficulties in merely Yielding to his plea for allowing sc.hoolmasters to use the cane at their discretion for breaches of 'the law' in school.
Caning, on whatever part of the "Ilatomy Dr Boyson may select, is an act with obvious sexual implications. It is a feature of 'blue' films, and lain carlet notes the English preference or call-girls who go in for whippings and spankings. I have no idea what is the precise effect, for good or ill, upon aschoolmaster of caning children, or er the effect upon boys and girls in a s
,eiopol where children are caned in
'runt of others, or seen to go off for ebaning in private. It cannot, however, fe entirely neutral, and may be harmdi. All this suggests the need for a Re dispassionate analysis than Dr nOdes Boyson gives us.
i The lack of a dispassionate approach s off seen clearly in Dr Boyson's flicking • in a few lines, the matter of
European schools" where (as he seems to agree) corporal punishment is
not employed. If teachers in those
schools do not cane, is it a sufficient rlsWer that they also refrain from .Pastoral care" ? If our "pastoral care" ilonv,olves caning, perhaps we ought to again at continental ideas of the `eacher's role and function? There is also an element of eXtremism in the wholesale manner in ich Dr Rhodes Boyson dismisses al other remedies for violence other an his treasured "stick". An nnproved environment" would clearly i.11P in many areas, and it is mere i"etoric to go on about alleged claims hat "an improved environment would Make all men good, wise, noble, selfless Zri.d law-abiding." It is the alternative nd of fanatic to Dr Boyson who eke such extravagant claims, not sensible people.
If a dispassionate analysis of cor
ral punishment were undertaken, f°nsideration might be given to the ,ant that in Scotland both parents and achers use corporal punishment far reot-, freely than in England; yet the svel of "adolescent violence" in cntland is particularly high. „ Clearly there is a short-term problem nd teachers in some of our city 'echoois must be supported by the berninunity and (in my opinion) cannot expected to drop corporal punish. eat until other measures are in effect.
It would appear, from Dr Boyson's remarks, that we ought to look in other countries for remedies, as well as in schools at home where discipline is intact without recourse to corporal punishment. Exclusion from ordinary schools is clearly necessary in the case of the abnormally violent. Some of these children, in my experience, come from homes where one or other parent is a sadist; further corporal punishment will not improve them.
The self-righteous approach of Dr Rhodes Boyson is the last thing that we require in this very difficult matter. R. M. Towes 117 Bradstow Way, Broadstairs, Kent
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