Schools shouldn’t spare the rod.
This is the view of retired educator John Goddard, who says there are certain kinds of “inappropriate conduct” by schoolchildren that verbal reprimands, time outs, in-house detentions and even positive re-enforcers will not curb.
Goddard made the comments on Wednesday evening while delivering the John Cumberbatch Memorial Lecture at Almond Bay Caterers in Hastings, Christ Church.
Goddard told the gathering of teachers, other people involved in education and trade unionists: “I feel constrained to comment on the increasing pressure being placed on Barbados to repeal the law relating to corporal punishment.
“I support the use of a wide range of methods of discipline, but for me the options include the use of the rod. We should not be in any hurry to abolish corporal punishment in home or school because it can serve as a deterrent when everything else fails.”
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