by DONNA SEALY

LET WELL ENOUGH ALONE!

That's the view of retired educator John Blackman, who said corporal punishment has its place in schools but students should not be lashed willy-nilly and definitely not for every infraction.

He told the WEEKEND NATION yesterday that young teachers, particularly those who have just left university and entered the classroom, should not be allowed to down hands on people's children.

Blackman, who retired as principal of Deighton Griffith Secondary School, added he was "mortally against" anyone other than principals, who could delegate to senior teachers, lashing students.

"Let corporal punishment remain on the statute books. I used corporal punishment very sparingly at my school. I say it must be used only for discipline.

"If a child comes to school late and you speak to this child and you try to get it to correct the situation and it doesn't do it, then you find some other means or if it's for work, untidiness or something like that, but the minute you are rude I'm coming for your backside . . . ," he said.

Blackman has spoken on the issue for years and uses Britain, where flogging in schools was abolished in 1986, as an example. He gave statistics that showed an increase in suspensions from 1995 when there were 11 084 expulsions that rose to 12 476 in 1996 and to 12 668 in 1997.

He was pleased about the results of last Sunday's People's Say poll which showed that 80 per cent of those who participated said they would like flogging to be continued in schools, as opposed to 20 per cent who were against it.

Ever since Minister of Education Ronald Jones said two weeks ago the ministry was examining the issue of banning flogging at school as a form of discipline, debate has been raging about whether it should be allowed or not. He said there had been much discussion in the ministry during the five months he was minister and more people had raised concerns "about male principals flogging girls and we're having instances of boys rebelling very strongly to corporal punishment". He also said flogging never caused children to learn.

Another retired educator, Major Hugh Barker, agreed that this form of discipline should remain on the statute books.

He said when "we were young we got flogged left and right" but nowadays it could not be the only method of discipline.

"I did not in my 20 years at Foundation School flog more than four people. It is necessary for that measure to be instilled. It creates fear in the minds of individuals because a lot of kids don't like the idea of being flogged and therefore you'll find that it is a measure that helps to keep certain people in check.

"The people I flogged in the past, I flogged more than once or twice and they were the same people. In a sense flogging by itself does not do anything to recalcitrant kids to straighten them out," he added.

Barker said the right atmosphere at the school must be created where traditions could be maintained.

"You set a tradition of discipline in your school. You find that most kids when they come into the school would hear about what would happen and tend to go along with the traditions of the school. In my case I didn't really have to flog many people at all; I just looked at them very hard."

For acting principal of Springer Memorial School, June Howard, flogging was not a first option and she therefore used it sparingly, if at all.

She prefers to talk, give the students lines or meaningful passages that would make them reflect on their actions. She said she has also deprived them of their time through detentions.

Howard said the younger students should be flogged, not the older ones, because this form was more suitable and effective to those at that age.

Hilda Skeene Primary's principal Ivan Clarke said he didn't like flogging.

"It is a last resort and sometimes the problems that we have, lashing would not take away," he said. "The truth is that some of the people that should be getting lashes are the parents."

He is a strong proponent of parents' conferences, counselling and in-school suspension. With the latter, some students spend that time in his office talking to him and doing work.

"I think that what can better serve us is a system of counselling where we have counsellors within the primary school to deal with some of the behaviours that are manifested in the classroom," Clarke said. He added that "a lot" of the parents needed training, noting that some children had serious problems "that beating on them would not help".