PUNISHMENT OF SCHOOLCHILDREN.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXV, Issue 9122, 23 April 1915, Page 2

PUNISHMENT OF SCHOOLCHILDREN.

To thk Ebitos "Guardian."

j Sir, —Might I ask, through the, I columns of your paper, if it is allow- ' able for,teachers in our public schools to thrash children over the backs until they are bruised ? and marked, and for such .'trifling offences as being too slow or not understanding their work ? This kind of treatment, I am told, is meted, out almost every day to school children in a certain school, and I think it is quite time that someone interfered. I always understood that a teacher. was, one who had a love for children and for his work in in-! structing them, instead ; of one who | has no patience to explain. This treatment, .naturally,- is forcing the children to cheat and to bo untruthful, and it is therefore not fitting them to be the upright, straightforward British subjects we expect them to be. Surely, under the British flag, our children should be afforded some protection from such unjust treatment, and I hope that someone in authority will ,take this matter up. I 1 might add that I am not writing ' through mere prejudice, as I have no children of my own; but I know a great many of the scholars, and they i have all told me the same story. I HUMANE. Ashburton, April 20, 1915.