Corporal punishment in the Indian school system

Discussion in 'Human Science' started by Syzygys, May 4, 2009.

  1. Syzygys As a mother, I am telling you Valued Senior Member

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    http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1895495,00.html

    Beside the article, I copy a personal experience from Reddit, mind the sentences at the end in bold:

    "I had a similar reaction to the headline. "This has got to be a story about India..."

    I went to a boarding school from age 10 - 15 in India (1990-1995). Since it was actually my decision to go to boarding school and not my parents', I hid nearly everything bad about the school from my parents or else they would just bring me back home. I loved the extracurricular activities I got to take part in at the boarding school; things I would never get a chance to learn in a city school. But I hated the amount of teacher-on-student and student-on-student physical violence that went on. One thing to keep in mind is that all the teachers were ALWAYS united against the students. Same with the senior students against the junior students. Even if a teacher or a senior was doing something obviously wrong, nobody would stop them.

    Just off the top of my head, here are a few punishments that my 12-13 year old self went through every now and then:

    'Crawl' was a favorite punishment of both teachers and senior students. You fold your pants legs up so that your knees are exposed, get down on your knees, clasp your hands behind your head, and "crawl" on your knees on whatever surface the punishers felt you deserved to crawl on. If I was late for a meal by more than 5 minutes, I had to crawl on asphalt for 30+ minutes and skip the current and next meal. My longest crawl was three hours because I talked to a senior girl during theater practice and she said I was cute. The senior boys didn't like it.

    'Everyone-kneel-down' meant a shared punishment was about to be unleashed. If three or more of us were caught breaking a rule, we were made to kneel down in a line next to each other. One or more teachers or seniors would walk down the line, slapping our faces as hard as they could. Then they'd turn around and slap the other side of your face. I always wondered what the optimal strategy here was, be on the sides and get two slaps immediately with a long break or more towards the middle with your slaps equally spaced. Also, if you shared more of the blame than the rest of the group, one teacher would hold your hair back while the teachers took turn slapping your face non-stop.

    'Murga' or 'Chicken-Squat' was the punishment of choice by female teachers as it looked very harmless but was tremendously painful. Murga Parade meant get into the squatting position like a chicken, hold your ears with your arms passing under your knees, and walk without stopping. We also got this if we were stopped during a 'College-run' (equivalent of a cross-country run) and especially if we took a shortcut during a long run.

    Corporal punishment is so deeply ingrained into the Indian education system that it is assumed that to "learn", one must "suffer" through this kind of treatment. I went through a lot and survived, and in a weird way, ended up a much stronger person. So sometimes I do feel that this kind of army-boot-camp torture treatments worked for me. But at the same time, I know a number of students who quit the boarding school because of such punishments and are to this day tormented by flashbacks and nightmares of crawling in the sun for hours while their knees bleed on the asphalt."
     
    ajanta likes this.
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  3. Diode-Man Awesome User Title Registered Senior Member

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    That's messed up dude.

    I thought I was going to be reading about a few strikes to the back or hand with a yard ruler, which is bad but not horrible.

    Some theorize that if you want to "feel up" about life, you've gotta take some pain to realize how good it feels to NOT be in pain.

    Rather than taking anti-depressants, go on a mountain hike with a rather large pack of weights... when you're done you'll sleep like a rock.
     
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  5. visceral_instinct Monkey see, monkey denigrate Valued Senior Member

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    Fuck those teachers. They should be publicly raped.

    Yes, I'm a disturbed, angry fucker.
     
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  7. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    Mod Hat - Xfer

    Mod Hat — Xfer

    Thread redirected to Human Science (psychology).
     
  8. anncook158 Registered Member

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  9. Confused2 Registered Senior Member

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    609
    When I was at school (England in the 60's) slapping and ruler-across-the hand were common punishments up to the age of 11. It was not uncommon for any member of the public to raise their hand to a child to indicate "If you persist I will slap you" - a real threat. At school, after the age of 11, the threat of 'the cane' (administered only by the Headmaster) remained but I'm not sure the threat was ever carried out (at least in my school).

    In the UK now all forms of corporal punishment are illegal - even parent on child.

    IMHO the children I meet now are almost spookily well-behaved compared to the children of 50 years ago. As a shopkeeper I normally greet everyone with 'Good Morning' (obviously only in the morning) and get a courteous response from virtually everyone regardless of age. Fetuses don't seem to respond but their mother usually smiles.

    Despite my own fears that making corporal punishment illegal would bring about the end of civilization - it hasn't - it has made a pleasanter place for all of us (in the UK).

    Going back to the OP, it is important (I think) to know whether what was done was done 'with integrity' or was nothing more than sadism. Maybe it isn't so important. Maybe go with "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". We're a social animal - we're programmed to get on with each other whatever happens.

    Good [time of day] to Syzgys.

    -C2.
     
  10. sculptor Valued Senior Member

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    8,466
    In grade school, a teacher threatened to hit my ass with a paddle. I left. Getting home, my step dad asked why I wasn't in school. So, I told him the story. He took me back to school, and standing directly in front of the teacher---real close--told the teacher that only one man on this earth had the right to "hit that boy", and it wasn't the teacher.
    We(they) worked it out an I returned to school unbeaten.

    IMHO
    Adults should never beat children.
    If you cannot out smart them, you have no wisdom, and you are in the wrong profession.
     
  11. cluelusshusbund + Public Dilemma + Valued Senior Member

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    In 4th grade my teecher slaped me for somptin i didnt do... i went home... dad sent me back to school... principal told me to apologize to the teecher for leavin school an i woudnt do it... an i remenber lookin up at the face of the giant an it was bright red... he said i woud be punished if i didnt apologize to the teecher... i still refused... the teecher took me in front of the class an paddled me wit a 1/4" thick paddle... an like other kids... i guess i was suposed to start cryin after a lick or 2 an go to my desk wit my head down an finish cryin... but i didnt... an she hit me so many times her arm got tired an she swithced the paddle to her other hand an kept on hittin but i still woudnt cry... lol... an then she turned the paddle on its edge an started hittin me at the back side of my knees... an i remember thankin how big my class mates eyes looked as they stared at what was goin on... an finaly the teecher told me to go to my desk... an when i did i stared strate at her an she woudnt look back at me.!!!

    School was over in about 5 minutes an i limped home an mom an dad wasnt pleased wit the bruses on my legs an went to school wit me the nest day to talk to the principal... the teecher told mom that she was sorry... that she was goin thru the change... an the principal told 'em the teecher woud never punish me agan... that he woud do it properly hisself if it was ever necessary... an it wasnt.!!!
     
  12. ajanta Registered Senior Member

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    611
    Now a days, some teachers rape students and some students rape teachers. Many teachers had to pay Bribe to involve in teaching....and I think what they will teach their students ? and those students are going on..,....well !
     
    Last edited: May 17, 2016
  13. ajanta Registered Senior Member

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  14. Sonnalli Seygall Registered Member

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    Yeah, I was also punished in school several times. We were a co-ed school and most of our teachers were ladies. One of our general knowledge teacher Jyoti mam used to form two teams and whichever team lost got to slap the other team (4 slaps). We had about 30 such competitions and my team (including me) got slapped about 20 times. Also our maths teacher Geetanjali mam used to make the whole class Murga whenever we used to make noise. Our IT teacher Miss Jyotika used to make us stand with hands up. Our DP mam Chetna used to make us do situps (at least 10) in morning assembly if we were not disciplined. The Chemistry teacher Manisha mam used give us several strokes on our legs with a stick if we got less marks. Our English teacher Ishu mam used to slap us on face several times and made us stand incthe sun while learning the trst again. Our Principal mam used to give about 4-6 strokes of stick on hand and then parade us in the ground while holding ears. Our Geography tracher Asha Mam used to make us lift our bags above the shoulders or sometimes parade in the ground. Our civics teacher Poonam mam used to give hard strokes on our hips and we had to say sorry mam agli baar pad ke aunga/aungi with each stroke. Our History teacher Neeta mam used to ask questions everyday and whoever answered the questions used to slap the others who didn't answer and we had to say thankyou (students name) with every slap. Our Sanskrit teacher Pooja mam used to draw bindi, choodiyan, baaliyan, nosepin etc. with a sketch on boys face and beard and moustache on girls face and made us stand outside the class in a line with our hands up and one leg up. Also after every week our class teacher used to give a list of weak students name to the Principle and all the weak students were gathered at school ground and made murga (boys) in a line and all girls were made to stand with hands and one leg up on every Saturday after lunch. And finally when we used to make noise in the class, our class monitors (Pallavi and Nishant) used to make us stand up on our desk untill next period started and the next teacher would have the monitor slap every standing student (Pallavi slapped boys and Nishant slapped girls) and after getting slapped we had to say 'Sorry Priyanka/Nishant, Main agli baar class mein shor nahin karunga/karungi.' I didn't like the punishment but I had a crush on the class monitor (Nishant) so I didn't care much.
     

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