British Medical Journal, London, 19 January 1935, p.130

Correspondence

A few months ago two little girls, smiling happily, entered my consulting room, one of them having some trivial complaint. When I spoke to the child, who was 10 years of age, she suddenly burst into hysterical and causeless sobbing. Evidently her emotions were on a hair trigger. “What is the matter with X.?” said I to the other child; “has she been fighting with the school teacher?” “She got the strap this afternoon,” was the reply. “Oh!” said I, looking as grave as I could; “what was she up to this time?” The reply, given with the slow gravity of a witness who fully appreciated her sister’s wickedness, was quite interesting: “She was staring about,” said the child. I interviewed the child’s mother, and learnt, inter alia, that the child would waken during the night crying out “No, Miss; no, Miss!”SIR,- As a contribution to the correspondence started by Dr. Kitching, you might possibly find the following of interest. This little case history is, as I am well aware from my own experience, in full accord with the traditions of pedagogy. I do not wish any annoyance to be caused to the teacher concerned, who is a very decent, conscientious girl, no less than the child a victim of the machine; I therefore withhold my name and address. -I am, etc., “G.P.” January 8th. ___________________ SIR,- I heartily agree with Dr. Kitching’s views on corporal punishment for girls. Dr. Belam refers to the menstrual period as a “normal physiological process.” He is quite right, but is it so very rare to find that there is an abnormality attending the normal process? Even when the process is normal there is an accompanying nervous tension, which is greatly augmented in cases of the abnormal “normal process,” and which may easily be strained too far. Personally, I am very much against corporal punishment for either sex. In my school days (not so very far distant) the master who really understood his business never required to resort to corporal punishment, while the man who thought himself a teacher merely because he had taken the necessary degrees was continually flogging his pupils. Did this make them behave? It did not! A child is an amazingly complex individual, and nine times out of ten can be led where he or she will not be driven. Undoubtedly this leading may be difficult, but since the school teacher has such a great influence on the future of the pupil it is of the utmost importance that he should not spare himself in his efforts to bring out the best qualities in those under his care. These best qualities will never be brought out, nor the bad qualities governed, by flogging. With regard to the Durham miner mentioned by Mrs. Harriet Smith, it seems to me that his daughter must have been faultily brought up from early childhood, as otherwise she would have had sufficient regard for her parents and for herself to obey their wishes, making it quite unnecessary for her father to exercise his authority in a fashion so brutal and indecent. -I am, etc., TOM R. WILKIE-MILLAR. Edinburgh, Jan. 14th. ___________________ SIR,- The physiological objections to the caning of girls are effectually dealt with by Dr. Belam in your issue of January 12th. There is, however, another aspect of the question which merits consideration. I refer to the psychological. It is an established fact that the buttocks are an important erotogenic zone, more particularly in girls, and corporal punishment during the formative years of adolescence may have far-reaching consequences in their subsequent sexual life. These will be none the less dangerous for lying hidden. Of even greater moment, perhaps, is the effect that such punishment may have on the master. Sadism and masochism are more than mere labels, and the infliction of corporal punishment cannot but foster in some degree these dangerous aberrations. While not advocating its total abolition, I think that a man should in no case be allowed to cane a girl, nor a woman to cane a boy beyond the age of 10. Apart from this consideration, the question of discipline seems to be essentially a matter for the discretion of the school rather than of the education authorities. In most industrial districts the strap or the cane is the ultimate argument of parents, and if they have no quarrel with its employment in the schools there seems to be no reason why the authorities should interfere. -I am, etc., R. BUDDLE ATKINSON, M.A. Ellesmere, Shropshire, Jan. 12th.