CCD and the Hot Wire

So Ginni is back in the US and I am teaching her CCD class of 4th graders. The lesson this week is about the beatitudes. The book we are using focuses on being happy, using the format of the beatitudes "Happy are the ... For they shall ..."

So, I ask the kids to write down three people they know who are happy - and why.
They all start writing away, except one. This is an 'active' boy who can't sit still, can't stop talking, and typically can't focus on the task at hand.

Eventually they get that first task done and I ask the next question, if you could have anything in the world that would make you happy what would you want? Again, they all start writing away, except one. As he acts up and distracts the others I'm getting a bit short on patience but finally they're all done and I have them read some of their ideas.

There are the obvious answers like, I wish I had a million dollars. Then there are the child-like ideas like, I wish I could fly. Then we get to the hyper-active trouble making kid. "I wish I wouldn't get beaten with the hot wire." Just like that - spoken with no excitement, no embarrasment, as if it was the most natural thing to be beaten with the hot wire and his wish was that he wouldn't get beat.

Coming from Boston, with all the child-abuse sensibilities filling me I begin wondering what child advocate group I need to call. When the class is over they all leave and I start setting up for the High School kids that come next. One of the volunteers that comes for that class is someone who is actually a teacher so I pull her aside and tell her about the hot wire. She shakes her head and looks at her feet and says, "You know Deacon, corporal punishment is allowed in the schools here. In fact its encouraged."

The public school teachers here are empowered to beat the children who act up. A paddle is something teachers have in the classroom. Clearly they don't use the hot wire, that's something he experiences at home. My volunteer told me that a few months ago a member of Parliament had written an editorial in one of the newspapers asking the question 'Should corporal punishment be eliminated in the schools?' He put forth his argument and for the next few days he was ripped up and down by just about everyone. 'Who do you think you are? Are you better than God? The bible says spare the rod and spoil the child - are you better than the bible?' It just went on and on for days and eventually he simply dropped the idea as being extremely unpopular.

I can recall during last year's CCD program I mentioned that the kids were difficult to control to a few parents and their immediate response was 'Well beat them, Deacon - if they don't behave beat them'.

Clearly we are not beating them - but equally clear is that beating the children who act up is part of the Bahamian culture. Eliminating the beating with a hot wire, however, is something I need to look into.

Till nex time.