Dear Editor,
Mr. Hackett’s letter reports that Taiwan has banned corporal punishment in schools. It caused me to recall the Michael Fay incident. This young man did not get a caning in school. He went to Singapore and decided that the city looked too clean and sparkling and that he should do something about that. He decided to spray paint a few cars (graffiti). He was promptly sentenced to be caned and was. The moral of the story is that if you fail to get disciplined at home or at school you will be disciplined by life and possibly publicly in the most embarrassing way. I believe for some people it takes a caning to bring them to their senses. I see some people pointing to the extremes of corporal punishment as a reason to stop it. Following that argument, we should carry out a worldwide campaign to abolish all vehicular traffic. Just look at all the people that will be killed and injured in Guyana next year for instance!
This debate reminds me of one that never took place but should have. It is the cessation of the teaching of grammar in schools. The movement took hold of Guyana in the 70’s.
It was a movement that was regretted. No less a person that the Duke of Edinburgh publicly lamented what had happened since in England. But the similarity is that we in the third world seem to be impressionable people. Anything that seems to be the fad in the so-called developed world must be copied.
I trust that the supporters of the abolition of corporal punishment know that American children more than most have developed a reputation for being the most indisciplined and spoilt rotten.
The proponents of the cessation of corporal punishment are bringing the most pressure to bear at a time when the society is most vulnerable to the all-pervasive American subculture via TV programming and music and video games and most parents have no idea what is getting into the minds of their children let alone being able to mitigate the influence.
Yours faithfully,
Frederick W. A. Collins
