THE CANE IN SCHOOL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19604, 5 April 1927, Page 10

THE CANE IN SCHOOL.

AUCKLAND BOARD'S RULES. "SPARINGLY AS POSSIBLE." HEAD TEACHERS* DISCRETION. In view of recent discussion, the regulations of the Auckland Education Board regarding the use of cane in schools are of interest. These provide that: —''Corporal punishment should bo inflicted sparingly. The administration of corporal punishment is left to the discretion of head teachers, who have power to delegate the same to any certificated assistant teachers in the school if they see fit to do so. Head teachers individually are held responsible for the due order and government of their schools. The boai'd is of opinion (1) that corporal punishment should be used as sparingly as possible; (2) that its frequent infliction in a school is to be accounted an indication of defective discipline; (3) that it should be limited to deliberate breaches of discipline and to wilful faults." The chairman of the board, Mr. A. Burns, explained yesterday that, as a general rule, corporal punishment, except in outstanding cases, was looked upon with disfavour. It was considered that if a teacher used the cane severely, then he or she was not very competent. Complaints of the use or abuse of the cane had been brought to his notice,j but the parents concerned would not make definite charges, as they thought that their children would be victimised in some way. Under such circumstances it was impossible to proceed with any inquiry. Personally, he did not think that any girl should be caned, and in the case of some children punishment as« severe as caning could be inflicted with the tongue. No child should be punished for not being able to do its lessons, as even the brightest of children might be mentally unfitted for "some certain subject. Mr. Burns said that he would not be prepared to say whether the cane should be abolished altogether, although he thought that such would eventually come about. He instanced the case of flogging in the Navy, which had formerly been considered indispensable to the discipline of the sailors. At present the headmaster could delegate an assistant to inflict punishment, but he thought that'it wouW be soon necessary for the board to consider whether punishment should only be meted out by the headmaster himself or the sole te;acher, i..> the case might be. It was possible that there were times when an assistant was too feady with the "stick," arid it was better for the headmaster to know t just how much, caning went on in his school.