Dear Editor,
I’m hearing that Teachers can do no wrong…. and its quite fine when a child comes home all black and blue from a ” discipline” that he received from a teacher or a school principal?
The first line of restraint begins with the teacher…no matter how angry you are or the behavior of the child.
I had a Son was slapped so hard by a primary school teacher and then was told “you can bring you pupa now”.
I had doubt but I knew my son…his nickname by the elders in the village was “Mr. Manners” speak volumes.
This was a nine year old child…a model student…in his 5 years in primary school never falls below 2nd in class which happened once…all other times he came 1st…even score a 100% for maths in common entrance exams.
Where is my son now.leave that there…you can ask in your reply.
I asked to slapped me as hard as the teacher slapped him and with tears he couldn’t… seeing my son’s face all blued and hearing the echo “you can bring you pupa now” in my anger I went over at the school to confront the principal and the teacher…and say ” he pupa ya”.
The teacher apologized and was humbled in response trying to justify the she didn’t slap him in that manner.
If her response was different or unapologetic God knows what could have happened that day.
“As soft answer turns away wrathful response” …..I encourage discipline in school..even corpal punishment but it must be done with reason and love.
I went school in the 70’s where the tamarind rod of all sizes was the order of the day and at extreme you have to dropped your pants to receive your lashes.
In my years in secondary school only once I witnessed a parent came to school and it wasn’t pretty.
So Audley…its not the norm where parents behave in such a manner …and no excuse for their when it happens and should be dealt with….in the same vein the teacher or principal that extremely beat or abuse a child not be forgiven either and should not be in our school system…
I would like to observe your reaction if your child comes home with black and blue eyes by the hands of a teacher…
(Comment in response to Audley)
Advertise with the mоѕt vіѕіtеd nеwѕ ѕіtе іn Antigua!
We offer fully customizable and flexible digital marketing packages.
Contact us at [email protected]
Allegations have been made about Jonathan Joseph and his whippings too. Affected the young man real bad. It made front page news in the Daily Observer some time ago too.
@ Sad But True
I heard the allegations too, but I heard that Jonathan murdered him and threw away the body in the sea so there was no evidence against him, apart from the one Molwyn and the young man mustered up to make a video…..I think he was paid quite handsomely, somewhat in the region of EC$50,000.00, a little less than the EC$30,000.00 per vote dished out by the PM, Melford, Molwyn etc to bribe voters, WHICH DID WORK BY THE WAY!!
That’s very bad on Mr. Joseph if your statement is true and so it is also, if you assault your wife; the mother of your children. Find out who did that and be done with your political diatribe.
Thank you so much for this letter
How dare you Clare Browne with you freshness
Think that every child learns whatever from home? When some of these teachers are criminals of abuse hiding,in the shadow lowering children’s self esteem
Are TEACHERS GODS?
Not all teachers are the same
But all the lies and love cover up
Must stop
We send our children to school to learn and not be reckoned on
We send them to you not to tear down
Teachers back in the 70’s were stern but they were caregivers and nutured and molded us
Now we have a set of untrained persons
You do well to response to audley….these people just pretend to be sanctimonious for sanctimony sake and when they are experiencing same is a different issue.
There should be no violence in schools, period. The abuse of children in Antigua is disgraceful. What you do to them they will do to others. If you’re an educated teacher you should be able to deal with any situation with your words and actions. Not violence.
And you wonder why Antiguan children are out their
abusing each other in the most violent manner.
No teacher should be aloud to hit your child. The law needs to be changed.
Thank you for taking the time to reply directly to me. I love constructive discourse and this can only aid to educate and strengthen the conversation and would make this and other matters easier. I went to Princess Margaret School where corporal punishment was the order of the day. No teacher, save and except for the principal was permitted to administer such punishment to a child. I believe that the same policy stands today. Maybe we need to completely abolish corporal punishment in school. But to answer your question directly, if my child was to come home with finger prints all over his face, then I would escalate the matter to the Ministry of Education, the police , a lawyer and the child protection agency. I would never attempt to fight a headmaster. In all my years of going to school, I have never seen any parent coming to fight any headmaster and we had some tough and fearsome ones. Honestly, I do not think that there are teachers and head teachers today that would deliberately mistreat any student. If such teachers exist, then they are in the wrong profession. Some kids are HARD to deal with and I have seen and witnessed many such children in my lifetime. Too often we swear for kids without really knowing what they do and the trouble they engage in. Back in my day, if my mother heard that I misbehaved at school, however simple, my backside would be scorching with blows. Children and parents are different today. I would support the call for a total ban on corporal punishment at school. But parents need to play a greater role in training and reigning in their hostile and aggressive kids OR keep them home.
What worked many decades ago cannot work now.
Today’s children are exposed to so much more that can influence them for better or worst. However, whippings in schools cannot continue in this New Age. It doesn’t make better children — only ones with pent up frustration that will be unleashed later in society.
The Ministry of Education doesn’t give parents any satisfaction because teachers are overworked and underpaid — so that’s their way of preventing teachers from leaving the field. Too many of today’s teachers are in this field because it’s a safe job, not because they love teaching. Those are usually the ones that resorts to abusing children. The class rooms are overcrowded and the teachers are highly stressed. But it’s not an excuse to abuse children.
Well said. I too went to school in your day and at the same alma mater. There are some vicious children going to the school in this matter. My grand son came home with a finger all swollen because a child tried to break his finger to get his snack . When he was punished he waited for the child after school and bashed his head into the fence of Antigua Plumbing. I do not know what happened at the school on that day. I will reserve my judgement till after the investigation is completed. But we parents are to be blamed for some of the things our children do.
who is this Audley?
a fr with a big mouth that just love chat
All I’m going to say is we are never quick to defend our teachers. Teachers can be wrong, yes. But children/students can be very provoking and stressful. That doesn’t give a teacher the right to resort to corporal punishment, but sometimes our teachers need our help too. When teachers were home because of covid, parents almost had a field day. What would this country do if it’s teachers decided to put their foot down and refuse to work until they were properly cared for?
I understand beating to correct a kid right, but that sir is a gateway to a hashtag… replace blm with that teacher’s name
So… One day, one year, in one class a long time ago, one teacher slapped your child on one occasion for no reason you knew about, because in your opinion children always behave exactly the same at school as they do in front of you at home and in their community, and students who get good grades never do anything wrong according to you. So, because of that one incident on that one day, all teachers are monsters and the principal in this case is guilty and how dare anyone suggest anything different. Ok then, on to the next story.
All of you sound
WEAK
SOFT
HYPOCRITE
JUDGMENTAL
LIKE A B!$&@
DUNCE
FULLY FULLY DUNCE
When y’all was getting y’all ass handed At that age
Nobody cared about none of you
When the same DUNCE say only a village can raise a child and all kinda nearga beat ppl kids for talk
NOBODY CARED ABOUT YOU
ALL OF A SUDDEN ONE TEACHER IN SOMETHING
EVERYONE COMPLAIN LIKE A B)$&@!!!!!
All kinda story about who get hit too
Do something with you life!!!
ALL YALL BREED SOME DUNCE GAY SOFT SIFFY ENTITLED CHILDREN THAT TOO NEED THE MOST
PROTECTION DEY SCHOOL
LAPTOP
TABLET
THE MOST
AND NONE OF THEM HAVE NO FUTURE CUZ YALL NOT EVEN LEAVING YOUR JOB TO GIVE THEM
Get a life
ALL OF U JUST HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN COMPLAIN ABOYT EVERYTHING!!
Pringle is an embarrassment..yall hurry up.move him jack
Pringle’s presentation MUST be commended…..AND AGAIN I REPEAT, I WOULD RATHER HAVE DUNCE PRINGLE AS AN MP THAN THE CURRENT ‘TIEFING’ PM THAT TOOK ENGLISH HARBOUR, MARBLE HILL, LONG BAY ET AL LANDS FOR PENNY ‘HEAPNEY’, ROBBING THE TREASURY OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ‘AS PER ASOT MICHAEL’.
One teacher once threw a GLASS BOTTLE to my son’s face.
As always, swept under the rug.
Some teachers love to abuse your children and play innocent when the time comes, chatting s##t about it didn’t hit him, provocation at its worst right there. And when you snap out, sigh 😡😡😡😡😡
@Annoyed Much
Was your child injured or was he lying? Some children lie plenty. Or did you make up this story.
Everybody who bashing the teachers take ur
bad behavior no good kids an teach them at home, I was at green bay school one day working as an security an two little boys beating up one tiny kid an the kid got strength an fight back then away then lunch time those two little boys walk up to the little boy from behind with a piece of pencil an was going stab the kid in the neck an I watch him to see wat he was gonna do as he raise he hand I grab him an wheel him an take him to the principal office.imsgine that poor child would a been dead right now. I dnt blame the teachers these kids now a days are evil an deserve hard punishment.
It’s saddened on such serious discourse as school violence among students…aggressive and disruptive teens…abusive reaction of teachers for what ever reason s but hopefully not deliberately…WE HAVE TO POLITICIZED IT…and that’s the problem in this Country.
…we can’t have a discourse no matter how serious with political jabs…no wonder our children behave that way.
We need to take a holistic look at the system…time have changed as one contributor expressed and I am totally in agreement .
The breakdown started decades ago when the school hours were changed from 08:00-15:30 where P.E was an after school activity 16:00 – 17:30 (Antigua Grammar School) To this modern day 08:00 – 13:30 .
Discussions were held to return to the old school hour and who fight against it…THE TEACHERS!
THERE IS INDEED A SERIOUS PROBLEM… IT’S NEAR
ITS BREAKING POINT…LET’S NIP IT NOW.
There are many factors that probably contribute to the rise in school violence e.g. the media and entertainment industry, the decline in religious practice particularly among males, the decline in stable two parent households, increased materialism, social media influences, the pandemic that taught kids it’s ok to force others to do your will to try to get what you think you want, economic issues in homes from inflation following the pandemic and the Russian-Ukraine war. There is no evidence that school operating times are a major or minor contributor. Students still get the same 5 hours of schooling either way after accounting for lunch, breaks etc. Many private schools use those earlier operating times with no issues. Studies show no significant improvement in academic performance with later operating hours. Students don’t focus well on difficult work in a classroom in the afternoon, and they need time to work on their own without being constantly spoonfed by teachers. However, there should be more after school programmes, clubs etc. to help keep some kids occupied in meaningful activities and off the streets while parents are not at home. This should not particularly be with the same teachers who they see all day. Those teachers have other paperwork to do anyway. Not every family needs that service so there is no need for every school child to be kept there all day to accomodate the few. That would be too costly to implement anyway and there would still be fights anyway if they are stuck with all the same classmates all day.
Children should not be kept in school from 8 to 5:30. That is excessive. How would parents have any influence over their children if they never see them? In the old days, people (parents and children) used to go home for lunch, not anymore. At least, in the current system, parents, grandparents etc. might see their children for a bit at a convenient time in the afternoon.
When I was in school we had one incident with a fairly new Canadian teacher . She wrote homework on blackboard which we all copied just as class was over that night at home sitting down to do my schoolwork I noticed the ##of the math work to be done but no page ##. Next day the whole class have no homework done to hand in because teacher omitted page ## . This woman had the whole class line up in front of her desk and one be by she went to work on our knuckles. When I reach home that afternoon crying because my knuckles are red and swollen my g/ma and grandmother wasted no time contacting the headmistress and demanding something be done. Well the school fired her.
While I agree that some teachers can be extra, yall really don’t know these kids. I was almost SAed by a schoolaged child, and in self-defense, I restrained him. He got a scratch in the process.
The parent was apparently cussing me on fb and ready to press charges. Others who heard about it, they were also ready to throw me under the bus. There was video proof, luckily, but without it, I would have been in 1735.
Abuse of a child by anyone, parent or educator, is wrong. But these kids are NOT the same as what we were. Something is missing in their upbringing.
There is no amount of frustration in the world of that of a teacher for him or her to abuse a child at school. Some teachers teach for a salary and some teach with passion, love, and the art of teaching. If a teacher is a real teacher from their heart, they would and could never abuse a child. Teachers are human too yes but we have to remember that teachers are the children’s parents at school and if you ever have a love for a parent you would treat all children like they are yours. Teachers need to relax and teach all children with love. Also, we have children and can give them the world. Parents try their best to raise children the best they know how, but do you what too? You can hube a child the world, you can talk to your child countless times but one thing you can’t do is give children a mind.
Comments are closed.