Dear Editor,
The official and public reactions to the cases of students assaulting teachers in the last few months have been disappointingly one-sided. While the attacks on teachers have undoubtedly been wrong, and it must be acknowledged that teachers do have rights, and should not be subject to assault, the environment that generated this assault must also be examined.
The Ministry of Education must necessarily take some responsibility for the creation of an environment in which children are driven to the point of attacking teachers, in which violence has become normative. What, we must ask ourselves, are the reasons behind these children’s behaviour? Are they the sole culprits of these assaults? Or does an environment which generates violence beget violence, leading to the student body’s inevitable retaliation? The continuation of corporal punishment in schools is one thing that must be examined; not only is it physically damaging to our children, but it can also be mentally scarring, demonstrating beyond a doubt that those with the power to enact violence have control. Furthermore, the verbal and psychological abuse that students suffer at the hands of teachers every day cannot go unnoticed. The behaviour of the teachers themselves must then be questioned ‒ as Colin Bynoe stated in the article ‘Increasing reports of teachers being assaulted is worrying’ (Kaieteur News, April 18), no student should retaliate against any teacher. What we must ask ourselves is, what are they retaliating against? Bynoe goes on to decry the inadequacy of the punishment awarded to the eight students guilty of the assault. These students have now been expelled, and their prospects for future education do not seem to be of public interest. What then happens to these children, who, in lieu of counselling, are thrown to the metaphorical dogs of a future without education?
The state of the schools themselves must also be examined as a contributing factor to these children’s clear display of their displeasure; with teenagers in secondary school who are still unable to read, is it any wonder that an environment of hostility and frustration is fostered within our schools? Furthermore, the level of bullying within the school system is at an all-time high, a fact which the ministry has yet to address. Students acting violently towards teachers cannot be said to be completely surprising when they have already been acting violently towards other students. Teachers have either ignored this tendency to bully or have tried to correct it with beating the children involved. But how can violence correct violence?
In situations like this, we need to be careful to re-examine our values about the rights of the child, and to be ready to take some responsibility for the actions of our children, as they undoubtedly reflect upon ourselves.
Yours faithfully,
Karen de Souza
Joy Marcus
Esther Harvey
For Red Thread
