Caning has never been a solution for school unrest

What you need to know:

  • One would challenge the proponents of caning who claim they “turned out alright” despite being routinely caned in childhood.

  • Are you (as a group) sure you really turned out alright?

  • A random walk in any hamlet of this great republic totally disproves this claim.

The outbreak of arson attacks in schools countrywide has continued despite moves by the Ministry of Education and Parliament to address it. There are many possible explanations for this, including the possibility of a bigger hand behind this phenomenon as well as aberrant socialisation as has been argued in this column in the past. The ministry has proposed many solutions all geared at getting to a negotiated settlement that makes school administration more open and transparent, enabling the students to raise issues before they get out of hand. Outside of the academy, some have argued for the reintroduction of caning in schools, a practice that was banned 15 years ago. Those with a religious bent have cited the Bible as their authority, insisting they are exhorted not to spare the rod and risk spoiling the child. Others have cited their own childhood experiences and pointed out that they “turned out alright” despite being thoroughly caned in childhood both at home and in school.

While many have disputed and even derided expert advice on this topic, the weight of evidence is totally against using physical violence to discipline anyone, including our children. There are many reasons why beating up people in order to make them see your point is unhelpful, and many more reasons why it is outright harmful.

First, if the intention of disciplinary action is to achieve long-term behaviour change, the evidence indicates this is almost always never achieved through caning. Caning only suppresses the undesirable behaviour for as long as the person doing the caning is present and strong enough to continue posing a real threat to the purported wrongdoer. If any of these two conditions are not fulfilled, the undesirable behaviour will make a dramatic comeback in most cases. A clear demonstration of this can be seen in our behaviour with regard to law and order. Many Kenyans will break the law with abandon unless an enforcer is present and strong enough to stop us. In my view, this might be a product of our own rough upbringing that involved plenty of physical violence in the enforcement of order.

USE FORCE

Second, caning children teaches them that as long as you are stronger or more powerful than others, you can use force to get things done your way. Conventionally, people with this attitude are known as bullies. They will hang around people weaker than them so that they can exploit them and force them to do things for them. We see this daily on our political scene, but also in public and private institutions. We are striving to get things done using threats of force for non-compliance, instead of inspiring people to see our vision and adopt it as their own, a much better and more sustainable way of effecting positive change.

Third, research has shown that people who suffer physical abuse as children are more likely to perpetrate physical violence and other antisocial acts later in adulthood. They are obviously more likely to cane their own children and others they have authority over, and also to beat up their partners in the event of a disagreement. The amount of domestic violence and violent crime in the country is a demonstration of this.

Finally, more recent work has shown children who are routinely caned or physically assaulted as a means of correction are at higher risk of developing a variety of mental illnesses in later life. Simple research comparing those who were caned against those who were disciplined using other means demonstrates a clearly heavier burden of mental illness among the former. Anyone who argues that this is a risk worth taking in the interests of social order cannot at the same time claim to be a loving parent or teacher of our children.

In closing, one would challenge the proponents of caning who claim they “turned out alright” despite being routinely caned in childhood. Are you (as a group) sure you really turned out alright? A random walk in any hamlet of this great republic totally disproves this claim.

 

Atwoli is associate professor of psychiatry and dean, school of medicine, Moi University; [email protected].