Violence as a Sound "Teaching Tool"

I have written before about the different points of view on corporal punishment here in Jamaica, and shared some of my points of view on the subject.

Recently the Minister of Education, who seems to be one of the very bright sparks in the 6 month old administration, declared that flogging at home and school were contributing to the high levels of violence that we Jamaicans are experiencing.

He said: "do you know what that passes to the students? That the only way to resolve a conflict is through violence, and what is being played out in the society is reinforced everyday by how we as a society imparts disciplinary instruction to our young people."

This flies in the face of much of the conventional wisdom which argues that "flogging was good for me, so it must be good for everyone." Unfortunately, those who state this nonsense never deal with the idea that our high murder rate might have something to do with the fact that we teach and demonstrate the "efficacy" of
violence as a teaching tool.

Every child that is beaten is taught: "Do this with your children (or spouse, or neighbours, or elderly, or poor, or otherwise defenseless.)" "It works!"

Of course, it doesn't.

"See this link to the article"