Rede zurück zu deinen Lehrern. Jedes mal wenn du nicht übereinstimmst mit dem was sie sagen, sags ihnen. Aber du weißt wie Lehrer sind, also sei so höflich wie du kannst. Was wenn sie anfangen dich anzuschreien? Das führt nur dahin zu zeigen wie unreif sie sind und dass sie Kritik nicht handhaben können. Werde deswegen nicht wütend, denn je höflicher du bist und je friedlicher du bist, desto weniger Gründe haben sie wütend zu werden, welches sie nur mehr frustrieren würde. Ist das nicht spaßig? :)
Jedes mal wenn ein Lehrer sagt du sollst aufhören zu "diskutieren", erkläre ihnen höflich das du nicht "diskutierst" sondern deine eigene Meinung bekanntgibst und dies dein gutes Recht ist. Sag ihnen das nichts daran falsch ist das du eine eigene Meinung hast und du es vollständig verstehst wenn sie nicht mit dir übereinstimmen. Sag ihnen es ist ihr Recht zu widersprechen. Aber sag ihnen auch, dass, da du ihre Meinung respektierst, sie auch deiner den gleichen Respekt entgegenkommen sollten.
Jedes mal wenn sie dir auftragen etwas zu tun, in der Machthaberischen Art, mach es, aber bevor du es tust, frag sie höflich ob sie versuchen können sich nächstes mal daran zu erinnern "bitte" zu sagen. Und dann brauchst du wahrscheinlich wieder den Diskusionsteil von oben.
Wenn ein lehrer sagt du bist undankbar und anfängt dir darüber zu erzählen was die Lehrer alles gutes für dich tun...lass sie ausreden und erkläre ihnen alle die schlechten Aspekte die sie dir antun. Danach, erkläre ihnen das du verstehen kannst das niemand perfekt ist und jeder Fehler macht und entschuldige dich dafür, es ihnen nicht frührer gesagt zu haben, erwähne auch, dass du hoffst das sie es ändern können.
Nachdem du diese paar Dinge getan hast, wird der durchschnittliche Lehrer dich wahrscheinlich früher oder später als "gehässig" bezeichnen. Wenn das passiert, sag ihnen es passt dir nicht "gehässig" genannt zu werden und dass es deine Gefühle verletzt. Sag, du hattest nie die Absicht irgendetwas gehässiges zu erreichen und du hast nur versucht den Lehrer zu helfen dich besser zu verstehen.
Wenn du nicht irgendwen angeschrien hast, Schimpfwörter benutzt hast, oder irgendwen mit der kinetischen Energie deiner Faust das Gesicht verändert hast (jemanden ins Gesicht geschlagen hast), kannst du nicht in Ärger kommen, weil du nicht wirklich irgendwelche Regeln verletzt hast. Wenn du eine Menge Schüler dazu bringst all diese Dinge zu tun, könnte die Schule etwas spaßiger und ... interessanter werden...
German Translation by aCol
Related posts:
]]>German Translation by aCol
Related posts:
]]>Macht es dich nicht krank? Hasst du es nicht einfach wenn ein Lehrer aus einem Einser-Schüler ein Beispiel macht und dich frägt warum du nicht das gleiche erreichen kannst? Oder wenn ein Lehrer in schlechter Laune ist und auf dir rumhackt und du dann, wenn du dich verteidigen willst, Ärger dafür bekommst zu "diskutieren"? Oder wenn ein Lehrer über etwas redet was nichts mit dir zu tun hat und du einem Freund etwas wichtiges mitteilst und dir dann gesagt wirst du sollst dein Mund halten und den Lehrer respektieren?
Du wirst dahin geführt zu glauben du bist ein kleines Nichts und musst dir von Leuten sagen lassen was du zu tun hast weil du nicht fähig bist deine eigenen Entscheidungen zu treffen. Viele Schulen machen eine Liste von "größten Erfolgen" um sich zu damit zu brüsten, aber viele Schüler die keine guten Noten kriegen schämen sich. Wenn du einer dieser "unerfolgreichen" bist, schäme dich nicht, sei stolz. Warum? Weil jeder in irgendetwas gut ist und in irgendetwas schlecht ist. Finde, worin du gut bist, konzentriere dich darauf und lache jeden aus der versucht dir zu sagen du wärst dumm.
Wer sind die wichtigsten Personen in der Schule? Nicht der Direktor, nicht die Lehrer ... die Schüler sinds. Nicht ihre Eltern, sondern sie. Sie sind diejenigen die jeden Tag dort hin müssen. Sie werden nicht bezahlt dahin zu gehen - sie werden gezwungen. In den meisten Schulen haben diejenigen Schüler, die weder weggerannt sind oder suizid begangen haben einen Orden für AUSDAUER verdient! Also, beim beachten des Faktes, dass wir Schüler die wichtigsten sind (Eltern sind die zweitwichtigsten, sie müssen für unsere misshandelung zahlen), sollten wir nicht etwas mehr wie Menschen behandelt werden die alle eine eigene, einzigartige Induvidualität haben anstatt das auf uns herabgesehen wird als wären wir nichts mehr als ungehorsame, undankbare Gören? Ich denken wir sollten.
Update zum 15 Mai 2009
Ich war komplett richtig vor zehn Jahren. Ratet mal wofür ich meine Noten in der Schule benutzt habe? Als ich mich fürs college beworben habe, haben sie, oh ich weiß nicht, diese vielleicht eine Minute oder Zwei beachtet. Das wars. Das war der EINZIGE Nutzen den sie, bis zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt, hatten. Und ich sehe keinen Nutzen für sie in der Zukunft. Niemand gibt ernsthaft etwas drauf was für Noten ich in der Schule erhalten habe, niemand frägt, niemand bewertet mich danach, es ist einfach komplett irrelevant für absolut alles.
Aber weißt du was traurig ist? Hin und wieder sehe ich Menschen, die sich immer noch nach dem bewerten wie sie in der Schule waren, selbst wenn es zehn Jahre her ist. Sie denken immer noch sie wären "dumm" wenn sie für irgendwas schlechte Noten bekommen haben. Sorg dafür das du nicht so sein wirst.
Geschrieben am 28 März 1999
German Translation by aCol
Related posts:
]]>< PARAGRAPH AUFGRUND DER (UNSICHEREN) RECHTSLAGE IN DEUTSCHLAND ENTFERNT>
Hier sind fünf wichtige Punkte die dir helfen werden deine Sinne zu bewahren:
1) Nur weil sie es mögen heißt nicht das du das auch musst.
Jeder ist anders. Menschen mögen verschiedene Sachen, Menschen machen Dinge in verschiedenen Wegen. Warum sollte Schule eine Ausnahme sein? Was haben sie sich dabei gedacht als sie Schule so designed haben das sie jeden den gleichen Stoff auf die gleiche Art vermitteln? Dachten sie etwa es würde funktionieren? Fakt ist, es funktioniert nicht. Wenn du es bevorzugst Dinge auf deine eigene Art zu erledigen ist es etwas GUTES. Diese Kinder die am besten funktionieren wenn sie gesagt kriegen was sie zu tun haben, in jeder Sekunde ihres Lebens, werden wahrscheinlich eines Tages für dich arbeiten.
Was ist mit den Menschen die annehmen, dass nur weil sie gut in der Schule sind oder die Schule sogar mögen, jeder imstande sein sollte die gleichen Resultate zu erzielen? Sorge dich nicht um sie. Du kannst nicht erwarten das jeder dich versteht, genauso wie sie nicht erwarten können das jeder genauso auf die Schule reagiert wie sie. Du könntest versuchen mit ihnen zu Argumentieren, aber manche Personen werden einfach nicht ihre Meinung ändern, egal was passiert, also verliere keinen Schlaf wegen ihnen.
2) Du bist nicht alleine
Viele junge Menschen hassen Schule. Viele ältere Menschen hassen die Schule immer noch. Heißt das die Personen die Schule hassen sind verdammt "ihr Leben lang Burger zu braten"? Nein. Nur weil jemand schule hasst heißt das nicht er hasst es zu lernen - oft hassen Leute Schule WEIL sie es lieben zu lernen - Schule ist langweilig und gibt "lernen" einen schlechten Ruf.
Sogar einige Nobelpreisträger hassten Schule:
George Bernard Shaw sagte, "Es gibt nichts schlimmeres für unschuldige auf der Erde als Schule"
Albert Einstein sagte, "Bildung ist das was übrig bleibt sobald man alles vergessen hat was man in der Schule gelernt hat".
3) Wie bildend ist Schule wirklich?
Du passt in einer Stunde auf, du machst ein paar Aufgaben, man gibt dir einen Test. Um den Test zu bestehen musst du die Informationen einprägen - das wird oft mit ausgearbeiteten "Lernmethoden", keine davon sind wirklich nicht mehr als dein Gehirn auszutricksen sich an Sachen zu erinnern die es sonst vergessen würde, bewerkstelligt. Manche Menschen erinnern sich ein bisschen an diese Information später im Leben - speziell wenn sie in eine Karriere kommen die irgendwo einen Bezug dazu hat. Die Meisten jedoch, andererseits, erinnern nicht mehr als 20% von allem was sie jemals an der Schule gelernt haben - dazu gehören auch die Fähigkeiten nötig zum lesen, schreiben und rechnen.
4) Welchen Sinn hat es dann?
Wenn du in der Schule feststeckst und deine Eltern lassen dich nicht etwas anderes ausprobieren, verzweifele nicht! Es gibt etwas Spass in der Schule zu haben. Wenn du bereits einen guten Freundeskreis hast, bist du bereits auf dem Weg zu einem guten Start. Wenn nicht, was auch immer du machst, ändere dich auf keinen fall um in irgendeine Gruppe zu passen damit diese dich mit ihnen rumhängen lässt.
Wenn es eine Sache gibt, in welcher Personen die Schule mögen richtig sind, ist es "Schule ist was du daraus machst". Das ist wahr. Wenn du nicht willst das sie langweilig ist, nimm dir etwas interessantes zu tun mit. Mach es nur nicht zu auffällig oder es könnte konfisziert werden weil es "eine Ablenkung vom Unterricht ist". Mache es zu einer "Mission" für dich selbst etwas in der Schule zu erreichen - das könnte alles sein was du willst, oder ein guter grund - wie junge Leute in deiner Schule zu finden welche es nicht aushalten und ihnen eine Kopie dieses Artikels in die Hand zu drücken.
5) Dein Leben wiederkriegen.
Wenn Hausaufgaben und Prüfungen deine Zeit nehmen die du für etwas hernehmen könntest das dich wirklich interessiert gibt es einen Weg herum. Wenn deine Eltern nicht zu aufgeregt über deine Noten sind, könntest du einfach das pure minimum von dem tun was zu tun ist um zu bestehen. Wenn, andererseits, sie "nichts als das beste" wollen solltest du vielleicht versuchen mit ihnen zu reden. Sag ihnen wie du dich wegen Schule fühlst. Erkläre ihnen, dass du mehr lernen würdest wenn du nicht dazu gezwungen werden würdest. Es ist schlimm genug Lehrer wegen allerlei Dinge gegen dich stehen zu haben, aber deine Eltern als Feinde im Rücken zu haben ist wie ein zwei-Fronten Krieg ohne Fluchtmöglichkeit. Wenn du keine Wörter rauskriegst, versuch es aufzuschreiben und dafür zu sorgen dass sie es lesen wenn du nicht im gleichen Raum bist wie sie. Auf beiden Wegen, versuch deinen Ärger nicht zu zeigen, oder sorge zumindest dafür das es nicht so aussiehst als wärst du wütend auf sie. Die meisten Leute nehmen das falsch auf.
Deine Eltern auf deiner Seite zu haben ist wirklich der beste Weg Schule zu überleben ohne deinen Verstand zu verlieren, und es ist ein Luxus den nicht viele junge Menschen haben. Stecke so viel Mühe wie möglich rein, mit deinen Eltern zu diskutieren wie möglich, und nur wenn alles andere fehlschlägt solltest du andere Wege deine Noten zu verbessern überdenken, die nicht soviel harte Arbeit mit sich bringen, z.B. einen Freund finden und einander zu helfen die Arbeit schneller zu erledigen.
Hoffentlich hat dieser Artikel einigen von euch irgendwie geholfen oder euch wenigstens aufgemuntert. Gib niemals auf - Schule kann wie Gefängnis oder sogar Hölle aussehen, aber es wird nicht auf ewig andauern. Vielleich kannst du sogar anderen Leuten auf ihren Weg aushelfen. Viel Glück.
German Translation by aCol
Related posts:
]]>Wednesday, the Republican-controlled state senate in Michigan passed an anti-bullying bill that protects school bullies instead of those they victimize. The bill passed by the Republican controlled state senate is clearly a nod to conservative Christians, who want to preserve their right to torture and torment gay and lesbian youth in the public school.
Since the law allows bullying based on religious and moral convictions, those who truly believe homosexuality is wrong are free to torment and torture LGBT students without fear of consequence.
Related posts:
]]>For most of my life, I have been accused having low self esteem. Throughout childhood and adolescence, friends frequently implored, "Geez, why do you cut yourself down so much?" I believed them, and worked tirelessly to improve my self esteem to seemingly no end. Only recently did I decide that I do not have low self esteem and likely never did. This groundbreaking realization came much too late, though, and the damage has been done. It will be no easy task to untrain the nonsense that was taught by counselors, life coaches, and self help books an an effort to make me more of an "optimist."
Elementary school was my earliest realization that this low self esteem thing didn't hold water. To this day, my mother wonders if something going wrong with either of her two children somehow could be traced back to a parenting error. She had always tried to praise us and encourage us, and I agreed that she hadn't done anything that could ever be construed as wrong other than maybe the usual annoying motherly things like picking at my hair, suggesting more feminine clothes, and telling me to stand up straight. That couldn't possibly be the cause, I thought. I told her that I was sad because I liked myself just fine, but wondered why nobody else did.
What a critically important realization. It amazes me how, even at such a young age, I was adept at discerning the difference between causality and correlation. I don't even know how I knew. I just seemed to immediately be able to critically assess situations, pick out weaknesses in arguments, and detect the presence of logical fallacies. I knew my own weaknesses and had clear goals of how I would improve them. I attempted to write my own books starting in 3rd grade, mostly inane Mary Sue fiction and lyrical poetry, but nevertheless I would fill journals with these things. Occasionally I would write confessional pieces on the events of the day and my thoughts on life, sometimes addressing myself or the diary directly. No other children I knew at the time did things like this and I hid it from them for fear they would think I was weird.
I was frequently bullied in school. Looking back, I am not surprised. I was physically weak and uncoordinated, shy, book smart, and deeply intellectual. I wanted to be left alone so I could learn things – in other words, I was an easy target. In an attempt to escape bullying by a particularly catty group of girls, I reported them to my teacher, who then said, "Well, what do you want me to do about it?" She sent me to the guidance counselor and told to "get a thicker skin." I was counseled to be less of an easy target. The girls were not reprimanded so they went on behaving as they always did, perpetuating social Darwinism, and I went on struggling (and failing) to climb up to a safer place on the social food chain.
My parents, who were both educators themselves, always suspected that because my bullies were frequently black students, the teachers were reluctant to punish them directly out of fear of being accused of racism. Additionally, the particular group of girls mentioned above who tortured me from first to eight grade usually got away with it because they were attractive, popular, confident, and knew how to kiss up to adults.
At the tender young age of thirteen, I went to the guidance counselor and got a brochure from her on self esteem. It seemed that the criteria everyone based their "diagnosis" on was this perceived excessive self criticism. And why did they perceive that I was excessively self critical? Because I was realistic rather than bubbly, naïve, and superficial like other little girls. I had set goals for myself and knew what I wanted to change in my life to realize my dreams. Part of having a grand plan for your life involves recognizing and sometimes articulating your own shortcomings. I guess I was supposed to think I was going to be President Doctor Barbie Super Hero Mother instead. Perhaps such a delusion would have lead them to believe I was developing normally.
I am convinced that everything else on the list of symptoms of low self esteem (defensiveness, hypersensitivity, neurotic guilt, perfectionism, and floating hostility) was a direct result of constantly being told I was too negative and had low self esteem when I didn't. Knowing that I thought I was fine and being constantly told I wasn't undermined my sense of who I thought I was. It is obvious to me now that if I thought I was fine, but teachers and classmates told me I wasn't, that it would create some psychological distress. I now believe that defensiveness, hypersensitivity, neurotic guilt, perfectionism, and floating hostility are also symptoms of emotional abuse.
Adding insult to injury, in addition to being told I had low self esteem, I was frequently told that I needed to stop caring so much what other people thought of me. However, I had a difficult time training myself to stop listening to other people's opinions of me because I was convinced that my own assessment of myself was wrong. It is frequently said that no one makes you feel inferior without your permission, but when you're a young child with a narrow frame of reference, sometimes you just don't know any better.
My grade school years brought some of my first experiences with a particularly potent type of delusional thinking called "motivated reasoning." It seemed like every K-12 school counselor and teacher I encountered in the 80s and 90s was an amateur shrink trying to make some amazing discovery about a child. I had an elementary school guidance counselor accuse my parents of child abuse and asked me "if my daddy had ever touched me in inappropriate places," which of course was radically untrue and brought me to nearly suffocating levels of tears the first time it was asked. It was a thought that had never crossed my mind, and my extreme reaction only further solidified the suspicions that lead so many school psychologists to think that the problem was on my end. They blamed me for having some kind of defect of attitude, or a bad family, or a mental disorder, rather than blaming the anti-intellectual climate of the Florida public school system that left me feeling like an unsatisfied outsider.
When bullies systematically humiliated me, I would be moved to a new class, a new desk, a new schedule. Sometimes my teachers did nothing at all because they weren't paying attention. Political correctness and the self esteem movement had dug in it's claws, so it was not fashionable to punish bullies. Consequently, I became fearful of social interactions where there would be no reliable adult supervision and spent most of my seventh and eight grade years hiding in the library bathroom or faking sick and sleeping in the nurses office for as long as I could get away with it. I lament the time I lost that could have been spent learning things while my young mind was still developing. That window is now mostly closed and I find myself struggling to learn as an adult because the fundamentals of performance oriented subjects like math did not get a chance to take hold.
At the end of eighth grade, just before I was about to enter high school, I would receive threatening phone calls multiple times per day from bullies saying that their older brothers and sisters were going to beat me up as soon as we got to high school. Rather than calling their bluff, my parents decided to send me to Catholic school instead. I finished there without physical bruises, but the emotional bruises had only yet begun to form.
I'm convinced that there are more kids out there like me who, when measured against the vast superficiality of the world, appear to be too analytical, too self critical, and too introverted and therefore, need some kind of intervention to put a stop to all of that crazy contemplation. They grow up with a stunted intellect and poor self confidence that can take years to undo – years that could have been better used for practical things like refining talents and learning interpersonal skills by which to propagate the fruits of their labor.
I imagine that if the bullies who tormented me had been adequately punished, either through suspension, public humiliation, or otherwise removing them from the temptation to torture unsuspecting victims, I might have grown up having more trust in authority figures and more faith in justice itself. If it was, over time, made socially unacceptable to be a bully, maybe the climate of my school aged years would have been more conducive to my personal growth. Maybe I would never have appeared to have depression or low self esteem and I would have been free to be myself. Imagine how much less taxing on my poor nervous system it would have been. I often wonder if the anxiety I feel about work performance and social interactions would be less had I been able to develop my identity on my own terms.
I carried my distrust for authority figures into adulthood. When I became ill with ulcerative colitis, I failed to accept that my doctors had my best interest in mind. Their arrogance, and their tendency to hastily judge my personality and intelligence when I had justifiably strong emotional reactions to feeling sick and worrying if I will ever feel better probably reminded me of being judged as a child by teachers in a similar way. This mistrust for authority is likely what lead me blindly into the clutches of alternative medicine. I was primed by mistrust for authority to seek out the fringe, and after falling helplessly into it's arms, the fringe performed the coup de gras on my confidence.
Escaping this vicious cycle meant rediscovering my own worth and using it as a motivation to take control of my life to the best of my ability. As I move through the stages of life, fewer and fewer people seem to see me as having low self esteem. Perhaps I got lucky that I was able to find friends who embrace both the intellect and the spirit without judging either.
Anti-intellectualism was not limited to the schools I attended as a child. I now see that it is a widespread problem throughout the United States, and perhaps other parts of the industrialized world. It is shameful with all of what we have at our disposal to propagate useful information, the average person still mostly uses it to look at porn, politics, and funny pictures of cats. In some ways, I am what one of my friends calls a "Luddite" – a person who rejects technology. At least, when compared to my gadget-toting peers. I resent social networking, smart phones, and anything with a touch screen. I'm even beginning to think that laptops are a racket. But, what I hate most of all about this post-modern technological era is the short attention span, affinity for sound bytes, and simple explanations built upon false certainty. Maybe human beings have always been this dumb and communication technology is not to blame. Nevertheless, it doesn't make it any less annoying when slogans become the most acceptable use of our language, in lieu of thoughtful, reasoned, diverse discussions that are sometimes long and cannot be explained in the "quick and dirty" format without leaving out important details.
The problem with always expecting "quick and dirty" explanations for things is that it short changes higher quality, more well rounded information. We are learning to tune out everything that we don't like or don't have the energy to comprehend. Written communication is mostly skimmed rather than read and spoken communication is required to be borderline theatrical in order to get people to listen. If we rule out everything that is too long, too slow, or too plain we will probably miss out on a lot of valuable things. Similarly, if intellectual students are accused of having a mental disorder, their mouths have been shut before their hearts have a chance to open.
For example, it has been an imperative of science for a long time to develop more popular appeal, but the burden should also be on the public to learn how to properly interpret science, especially science reported in the media, so as not to be duped by snake oil salesmen and refrigerator salesmen alike. Ignorance may be bliss, but only when there are no problems to solve. Bullying comes from this type of ignorance and teachers are part of the problem if they do not learn to identify the symptoms of ignorance. Nerds are abused because being smart is seen as not being any fun.
Recently in the lab, my boss came in and asked how I was doing. I was still in the process of learning a new technique and pointed to some tubes in the incubator and asked, "You want me to run these out on a gel, right?" She looked annoyed and said, "What do you think?" I hesitated for a moment and said, "Yes." And she said, "Well, then why did you ask me?" I told her that I had a poor memory and needed to double and triple check my next move in order to make sure it was the right one. She replied with, "Well, you did know the answer to that question. I don't mind questions, but only to those to which you do not know the answer. You need to learn to rely on yourself for these things. You DID know what you were doing."
In order to do what it is that I love, I need to confront my anxiety over performance. My poor nervous system was rattled to pieces during my school years and rebuilding it has been an immense challenge. I fear math and musical performances alike because I still do not trust my own assessment of my abilities. I immediately assume that any confidence I have in myself is actually overconfidence. I worry constantly about being blind to the truth about myself. I ask people if they are mad at me all the time, even when I have no evidence to the contrary. My boss, even after only knowing me a few weeks, hit the nail on the head. I need to learn to trust myself.
Easier said than done.
by The Beta Female
Related posts:
]]>And for a long time the saying has been revered and obeyed.
It is now deeply embedded in traditional practice, making its abolition difficult.
Administration of corporal punishment, in schools has however, raised concern among stakeholders who either feel that it should be stopped or upheld.
Although statistics are not available to substantiate the fact that children are being injured during spanking at school, media reports show that corporal punishment is a form of abuse perpetrated in schools.
This is in violation of the rule that when administering corporal punishment, it has to be in the presence of someone in authority.
In some cases, pupils have been taken to hospital after being beaten by teachers.
Only this month, some Form Four pupils at Nyatsime College were severely assaulted by a security guard.
Last year, an eight-year-old pupil from Murehwa sustained serious injuries after being assaulted by a teacher for failing to bring a broom.
And in October 2009, a Chinhoyi High School sports director allegedly struck and killed a 16-year-old boy with a cricket bat while the caretaker held him.
That same month, a headmaster at Eveline High School forced a schoolgirl to undress before severely assaulting her.
As a result, there is no justification for the continuation of corporal punishment in schools, social settings and general family life. Justice for Children Trust programmes director Mr Caleb Mutandwa said any changes to the current law require the support of all stakeholders.
"We do not have consolidated figures on occurrence of corporate punishment among numbers in the country's schools.
"Our surveys however, have shown that children are worried at the frequency of the beatings, severity and the reasons they are receiving corporal punishment. Some of the children are complaining that they are being beaten for things that they do not have control over, for example, failure to procure school uniforms and paying school fees or buying books," he said.
Mr Mutandwa said corporal punishment was now making children cringe at the presence of their teachers and was not instilling discipline in the children.
He appealed to education authorities to ensure that regulations on administration of corporal punishment are respected.
"Current regulations require that corporal punishment be administered by the headmaster or senior master in the presence of another person.
"Teachers are not adhering to these regulations hence the increase in cases of injuries to children in schools. But as an organisation we feel there is need to institute research before we can call for the abolishment of corporal punishment. Before that authorities need to ensure that the current framework on punishment is adhered to.
"Some teachers keep sticks, pieces of old tyres and planks as disciplinary tools, which has left children learning in fear," he said.
Mr Mutandwa said it was important that corporal punishment be done only in extreme cases or for very serious offences.
Parents interviewed said the school environment was no longer safe as teachers were abusing the right to administer corporal punishment.
They said people who are being given the right to protect children are becoming dangerous hence the need to do away with corporal punishment.
"Schools are no longer child friendly and there is need for Government to institute laws that forbid corporal punishment. We understand that there is a mechanism through which spanking can be administered.
"I remember back then when I was in school, not every teacher was allowed to beat pupils. That was left to the headmasters and senior staff who had to do it in the presence of another teacher to guard against overdoing it," said Ms Maureen Matiza of Glen Lorne.
Another parent, Mrs Precious Mkomera, said it would be unwise to do away with corporal punishment.
"I understand that there are instruments to regulate the administration of corporal punishment that are not being followed.
"Government must come up with modalities to ensure that regulations on corporate administration are adhered to. At most schools, teachers who employ corporal punishment are known but headmasters often choose to ignore it until something bad happens.
"School authorities should institute disciplinary measures whenever teachers disobey regulations."
Mrs Mkomera said most teachers were frustrated by their working conditions and were thus venting their anger on schoolchildren.
One teacher said corporal punishment should be permitted, if Zimbabwe is to train its citizens into responsible citizens.
"Corporal punishment should not be abolished totally but administered within the existing laws. Abolishing it will spell doom for the country's education system as children will be uncontrollable," he said.
Most international human rights groups are advocating total abolishment of corporal punishment saying it violates children's rights to dignity and physical integrity.
The Global Initiative, a human rights organisation involved with children rights issues argues that the legality of corporal punishment in almost every state worldwide challenges the universal right to equal protection under the law.
Under the initiative dubbed the "The Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children," the activists advocate that governments should move speedily to implement legal reform and public education programmes on corporal punishment.
But the once-silent victims of corporal punishment - the children - are now beginning to express their own views about it and concede they are living in fear of being injured by school authorities.
"Personally, I don't want to be beaten up but there is nothing I can do. The options are very few, you either accept corporal punishment or get expelled. Who wants to be expelled?
"We are being exposed to various forms of harassment that sometimes leave you thinking that the teachers are out to vent their frustrations on us," said Makanaka, a Form Four student at Queen Elizabeth High School in Harare.
Kudakwashe Machingura of Beatrice said: "There are instances we know that our teacher will beat us. Sometimes we are assaulted for coming to school late despite the fact that you would have travelled for nearly 10km in this cold.
"The teacher keeps a thick cooking stick that he beats us with on the back. I am not totally against being disciplined but am worried about the frequency and reasons for assaults," he said.
Hazel Rutendo of Zengeza said: "There is no distinction between boys and girls during corporal punishment."
"I feel some of our teachers are just keen to beat students for no reason and that is unfair. At least I need to now why I deserve to be beaten."
Zimbabwe Progressive Teacher Union programmes and communication manager Mr Oswald Madziva said the call to ending corporal punishment was a drift away from the thinking that children were born a mass of sin needed to be corrected towards the idea that children were pure and only corrupted by the environment.
He sad it was wrong to view teachers that were administering corporal punishment as ruthless and animalistic as they were seeking to get the best out of the children.
"Its quite stressful for teachers who have to deal with children coming to school late, bullying others, not doing school work and many other such misdemeanors.
"At the end of the day, you then asked to account for that child's failure. It the society still demands good result from teachers, the system needs to offer an alternative," Mr Madziva said.
He said the union was calling its members to stop beating the children because the penalties on them was heavy.
"In any case extremes are uncalled for. Such cases usually happen when corporal punishment is administered whilst in anger.
"Corporal punishment as a corrective measure should be modest, minimal and have a human face. Going to headmasters whenever you want to administer corporal punishment is not practical for big school."
Education, Art, Sport and Culture Minister Senator David Coltart insisted that there was a statutory instrument that outlined when corporal punishment could be adopted and this was done in limited circumstances. Anything done outside those perimeters, he said, was illegal and thus punishable under the national laws.
Analysts however suggested that teachers should opt for detention classes - where students stay behind on Friday or any other half-day for reading and cleaning school environment.
According to the laws of Zimbabwe, corporal punishment is lawful in the home and school.
The Constitution (1979) as amended in 1990 allows "moderate" corporal punishment "in appropriate circumstances upon a person under the age of 18 years."
In schools, where the bone of contention is most severe, the law allows corporal punishment only for boys, under Article 241 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act and Article 66 of the Education Act (2004).
This makes corporal punishment permissible only for disciplinary purposes.
July 14, 2011
The Herald
http://allafrica.com/stories/201107140537.html
Related posts:
]]>Albright questions the logic, asking what it is we’re so afraid of. For important insights from Dr. Albright that impact our kids, CLICK HERE.
What do you think? Is hugging a sign of a well rounded student? Are schools in the business of educating and should anything that interferes with learning be banned? We want to hear from you.
http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/paren...-about-1289115
Yahoo
April 16, 2010
Related posts:
]]>A VICTORIAN woman is being investigated after offering her two young children for sale to the highest bidder on internet auction site eBay.
The woman, in her early 30s, lives near Geelong. She wrote a "lengthy sales pitch" that included photographs of her son and daughter, both aged under 10.
Several people placed bids on the sickening auction, which has alarmed authorities.
Detectives from the Sexual Offences and Child Abuse unit were alerted to the internet page by a horrified member of the public.
The page has been taken down and the woman's children could be taken into permanent care.
Victoria Police has decided not to press charges against the mum, who claims the act was a joke.
However, police sources told the Sunday Herald Sun they were disturbed by the incident and in particular the genuine bidders who tried to obtain the children.
Officers continue to probe the people who bid on the children and the Department of Human Services is continuing its investigation into the family.
"Investigators from Geelong were notified last week that a mother was trying to sell her two children on eBay," a Victoria Police spokeswoman said.
"Photos of the children, a boy and a girl both aged under 10 years, were included in the sales pitch."
The page was posted on Wednesday and was active until late morning the next day.
"The mother wrote a lengthy sales pitch that was very interesting reading," a police source said.
"She said the page was created as a joke, but what worries us is the people bidding on the auction. Who knows who these people are. They could be paedophiles or anyone. It's extremely disturbing."
Officers immediately contacted eBay, which took the page down within two hours. Auction site staff then provided detectives with full details of the woman.
She faced charges under section 493 of Failing to Protect Child from Harm, which carries a maximum sentence of 12 months in prison.
But officers accepted her plea that it was a joke.
However, they have referred the matter to the DHS, which is still investigating the family.
A spokesman said it was possible the children could be taken into care.
"If there is a serious threat to the children's wellbeing and the situation is so bad that the only safe option is for them to be taken from home, then that is definitely a possibility," he said.
"This action could attract the attention of the wrong sort of people, whether it was a joke or not, and the family need to understand the risks and receive advice around that.
"We will continue to engage with the family and assess if there are any underlying problems.
"We need to get to the bottom of why she did this.
"Is there a mental illness, is the mother not coping or was it simply a joke? I don't recall another case like this."
A spokesman for eBay said the case proved it had a good relationship with Victoria Police and had acted swiftly.
"It demonstrates that anyone posting anything illegal on our site is extremely foolish," he said.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/pr...-1226096094802
Related posts:
]]>The teens were arrested Saturday outside a movie theater in the Bricktown entertainment district. Some parents say the arrests came 20 minutes before the 11 p.m. curfew for those younger than 18, that some were arrested while waiting for parents to pick them up after the movie, and that they had to wait up to six hours to take their children home.
The city's curfew ordinance makes exceptions, including for those who attend a movie and are awaiting an adult for a ride home. Police Chief Bill Citty told The Oklahoman that the incident is under investigation.
Valenthia Doolin, of Oklahoma City, said she arrived to pick up her children at 10:40 p.m. and found a line of police cars and vans and her children were not answering their cellphones.
She said she eventually received a text message from her son saying they had been picked up on a curfew violation.
Doolin said officers refused to listen when they pointed out her car and said their ride was there minutes before the curfew began.
"We felt violated, harassed and frightened at the hands of Oklahoma City law enforcement," Doolin said. "Something has to be done to ensure that it never happens again."
Peggy Hammons said she, her 15-year-old daughter and her daughter's friend attended a movie that let out just before 11 p.m. and the two girls waited in front of the theater while Hammons got the car.
"A female police officer approached them, instructed them to hand over their cellphones and get over and get in that paddy wagon," Hammons said.
"They tried to explain to the police officers, and they were told to shut up and be quiet."
Citty, the police chief, said police are investigating their handling of the situation to see what went wrong.
"The ordinance does provide for legitimate reasons for someone who is underage to be out past 11 p.m.," Citty said. "If they can show they were attending the theater and are waiting for a ride to be picked up, the arrest of that juvenile would not be appropriate."
He said at least two of the citations issued Saturday have been dismissed because they shouldn't have been issued to begin with and that others could also be thrown out.
Related posts:
]]>