SPIKEY SAYS:

"It's a comic strip for intellectually under-achievers."

*SMILE*...now I'm sure Spikeyness...that you've picked on my spelling and grammar in the past :)

Not a good look to be speaking about under-achievers and then saying "Intellectually under achievers" huh?

Me thinks it shold be "intellectual under-achievers" no?

Robert, & Spikey, it was credible empirical research by smug self-satisified twits, probably tenured, comming from our sheltered workshop universities humanities departments that has caused the problem, in the first place. Posts like your last only reinforce the belief among people, who actually do something, that nothing worth while will come from anyone with a degree.

I was lucky, I had all ready been shown, by an amateur motor racing mechanic, just how little I had learnt getting my
B Sc. before I started waving it in real peoples faces.

A couple of years of a fitting apprenticeship, in a steel mill, may help you to grow up, & join the real world. Unlikely, but possible, if you were to really try.

Ooooh, score a point for the Polymath! Pling!

Deduct two for the lack of sense of irony...

>>Me thinks it shold be "intellectual under-achievers" no?<<

This had me chuckling I can tell you..

Polycarp,

Poor old dear. You've been waiting and waiting for a slip-up in my spelling (since you've never been able to find fault with my logic or empirical evidence).

And finally you've got me.

But dear boy, I think you've become over-excited: "Me thinks it shold be 'intellectual under-achievers' no?" Yes, it shold, sholdn't it? I shold beg your humble pardon. LOL

Amusing dialogues aside, getting back to the subject matter I'd like to say Foxy, that your Scottish headmaster sounds like quite an impressive woman.
Clearly, she had mastered the art of discipline.

Because it really is an art, I think. I mentioned earlier how my mother had used the 'fear' of the wooden spoon as a deterrent, but wouldn't actually ever use the wooden spoon on me.

I know some people could point to this and say if you're going to make threats, you've got to back them up - but I think, this is far too simplistic.

See, if she ever HAD actually used the spoon, it would have lost all its power. She had turned it into a psychological device that had far more power than any mere physical punishment.

Ultimately, that's where discipline lies - although there are a few one-size-fits-all techniques, most of the time, the disciplinary tactics need to be calibrated for the child or individual in question. Quite the problem on a societal scale.

And to sum up - did anyone remember that godawful super-nanny program?
That British woman never used smacking and she brought all kinds of terrors into line.
Hell, even modern dog-trainers have alternative disciplines to smacking.

Like I said - smacking is just plain clumsy. There are far better methods of discipline, they just take more by way of brains and creativity.

Something I suspect the proponents of corporal punishment lack. (This is probably getting a little too ad-hominem, but I really believe it. I don't mean it in an insulting sense, I literally mean that many people who are arguing in favour of corporal punishment can't think of better means, because there really are much better ones out there).

I think that there are two different issues which get mixed up in this debate. One is the values we bring to parenting, the other is the tools we use to discipline.

One of the values which is significant here is the idea of boundaries, do we teach our children to respect others, to respect the rules of their school etc or do we think that children should not need to do that stuff.

Corporal punishment is a tool, one that has been used for a long time and which used in moderation carries with it the benefit of being rapid and not requiring much in the way of extra resources (time out space etc) but which also carries a slightly elevated risk of antisocial behaviours including a tendancy to sexual violence. It's one of many tool which are available to parents (and used to be available to teachers) but it's not the most effective it's just convenient.

I suspect that most of the problems people attribute to the lack of caning has more to do with parents not teaching or demonstrating appropriate boundaries to children.

Schools can provide some very good behavioural assistance but if it's not backed up by parents then it's unlikely to be effective just as the cane was spectacularly ineffective without parental support for school discipline.

R0bert