Corporal punishment is being made out to be a major cause of violence in our society. This narrative is being touted by people, including Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who we are aware has long been against this type of disciplinary action.

He was quite instrumental in having corporal punishment discontinued in early childhood institutions and infant schools. In a briefing from the Office of the Prime Minister in 2018, he said, “What we have been doing in allowing corporal punishment in our educational institutions is to entrench and legitimise the use of unregulated force ­— violence ­— and it is utter nonsense to say, well I was slapped and I did not turn out that way.”

However, in 2011, in his capacity as education minister he stated that, “The use of moderate and reasonable corporal punishment as a means of disciplinary sanction is legal in all schools in Jamaica, except early childhood institutions.” And noted that the Government is seeking to change the laws to abolish its use at all level of the education system. Subsequently, in the same year, the Ministry of Education developed a Green Paper on Safe School Policy, which will, among other things, abolish the use of corporal punishment in all schools.

More recently, though, the prime minister has been revisiting his stance on corporal punishment by indicating that he was moving to ban corporal punishment in the home. He has stated that, “Banning corporal punishment would be a symbolic step, and I think that is the trend worldwide. Don’t spare the rod and spoil the child is still believed to be a sound precept in many homes. But I don’t know whether banning it in the form of criminalising it and parents face criminal sanctions if they slap their children, if that would be accepted across the nation.” (Jamaica Observer, July 2021)

DISCIPLINE VS ABUSE

Discipline is defined as the practice of training someone to behave in accordance with rules or a code of conduct so they can adopt desirable future behaviour. Abuse, on the other hand, is any action that intentionally harms or injures another person. Therefore, what we want parents and others to practise is discipline without abuse, because anything done in excess has the propensity to be harmful.

The responsibility of disciplining a child falls mainly under the purview of the parent(s). They may have to be scolded in other places, such as school or even church, but the home bears the ultimate responsibility for the upbringing of children.

Parenting skills are not innate but learnt over time. Naturally, the skills of an individual will include his or her own personal experiences, external lessons, and those gleaned from reading books, depending on the level of intelligence. Hence, how the discipline meted out will differ. I believe what should be addressed is the intensity of the mode of discipline, if flogging is chosen. A whopping is not always necessary, but it helps in most instances to discourage and dissuade unwanted behaviour. Therefore, I agree with the prime minister when he said that moderate and reasonable corporal punishment is legal. Those of us who got a whipping or two (not abuse) can attest that we learnt the lessons it taught and are better individuals having had the experience. As a result, we show respect and reverence, where applicable, and avoid situations with adverse outcomes.

There are other acts administered by some parents in the name of discipline that are downright cruel, and those I am absolutely in disagreement with. The use of objects, such as a piece of board, PVC pipe, and electrical wires; and tying a child to a tree in an ants nest, for example, are all cruel and cold-hearted. These things are downright abusive and, yes, people who have experienced this type of trauma may develop violent tendencies and will require psychological help. However, this is the extreme and not the norm.

What is truly required here is parental education. Do not discipline the child when you are angry, tired, or frustrated. Handle each matter as it occurs and do not stack them. Use an appropriate belt to administer spanking on the butt or in outstretched hands. Should these be taken into consideration, abuse is unlikely to occur.

According to research, “conditional spanking teaches a child to cooperate with the milder disciplinary tactic, thereby making spanking less necessary in the future”. It was also found that all types of corrective discipline were associated with aggressive behaviour which cannot be uniquely attributed to spanking. So why single out corporal punishment? The act of banning corporal punishment will not decrease incidences of violence in our society any more than allowing its practice will. This will also be interfering with the home and how parents discipline their children, which will be met with opposition.

THEN AND NOW

Presently we are experiencing an increase in the level of domestic violence.

Back in earlier times, when flogging was the main disciplinary action used in homes and schools, things were never this horrible. Many of us who were born in the 60s, 70s, and even the 80s can attest to this. Even if we weren’t thriving economically, we were happier, kinder, and the community shared a greater bond, and the love was evident. We respected adults, revered our parents and others in authority, and we understood our places as children. Our spats and quarrels were amicably resolved and seldom resulted in a fight that led to one person being harmed or killed. Malice and grievance were not harboured for extended periods, and revenge would not be meted out to the opponent’s relatives in lieu of the offender. Additionally, there were far less social programmes or advocacy groups to provide parental assistance. Remember, we are the generation who were spanked.

It is safe to say that every generation, over time, has modified the way they discipline their offspring. This is due partially to the belief that times are more modern and the use of old-fashion modes of discipline is unnecessary. Some have even associated flogging with slavery and our colonial past, a period which they would rather forget.

However, there are other changes that were made in the process. We have refused to send our children to Sunday school; we have opted to take a free-handed approach to raising our children, thereby decreasing the necessity and importance of instilling values, morals, and attitudes; and we have even been influenced by other cultures and international bodies who are selling us the line that spanking is bad and this is partially the reason for the current level of violence. I am willing to bet that most of those responsible for this violence were not spanked but spoilt. If they were whipped any at all, they never received anywhere near the number of floggings we got. Some of the floggings I got were unwarranted and, yes, that made me angry. Shouldn’t those floggings cause me to be violent? Why didn’t they?

It was on social media that I watched a video clip of Prime Minister Holness in a conversation with Gwendolyn McKnight, the mother of Kimesha Wright, who was butchered along with her four children in Clarendon on the morning of June 21, 2022. In his bid to sympathise with her he proceeded to impart a lecture on how children were raised by some parents and the spanking they may have received. In my mind, what was being implied was that the confessed perpetrator, Rushane Barnett, was probably disciplined with a flogging from his parents, hence his reason for wiping out an entire family. If ever there was a wrong time, wrong place for such a conversation, it was then. Plus, there was no information that the accused was ever an abused child, but for some reason he was extremely violent and had allegedly stabbed his father in the past.

Did corporal punishment do this? How did the prime minister get there?

The use of corporal punishment as a disciplinary tool is linked to the Bible precept, “Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.” (Proverbs 22:15) There are many more like this in the book of Proverbs and they have been more helpful than harmful.

Children need discipline, love, guidance, protection, and sometimes tough love is necessary to keep them from self-destructing. But parents will have to be educated on how to administer moderate discipline.

In all of this, though, there are other societal issues to be addressed, which has contributed more significantly to the occurrence of the current level of violence being experienced in the country. The banning of corporal punishment will not inject anything new, neither will it solve any problem. Do not make a scapegoat out of corporal punishment.

Sandra.currie@utech.edu.jm