THE MINISTER of Education has been bobbing and weaving on the issue of corporal punishment since he came to office.
He, more than any of the few abolitionists in Barbados, can start the ball rolling and introduce the necessary measures.
We would do well to take seriously the Minister’s advice about the effects of this backward, barbaric practice.
Personally, I don’t think he will succeed, but that should not deter him from trying.
And let’s stop using that euphemism called “spanking”.
In Barbados we share licks, we beat them, we cut their tails, we wring their ears, we mall-sprig them, we put them out de house and we let them sleep in de goat pen!
Beating children is deeply installed in our marrow and, I fear, will remain there for the next two hundred years.
It’s learned behaviour. And it has the support of an army of parents, working and retired teachers, priests, apostles, elders and members of parliament.
– Carl Moore
