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A last resort?: corporal punishment in schools;
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December 9, 2015
Hadn't read this in years, but going through a process of reeducating and rethinking old ideas.
This book was written in the early 1970s and draws heavily on the work of the English lobby group STOPP who lead the - ultimately successful - campaign to end corporal punishment in British schools. There's a lot of interesting material in the book, but what struck me most was the left wing ideology that permeates it at every level. It gives the feeling that this issue was treated by many of the people involved as a wedge they could use to try and 'reform' all aspects of education - yes, there were some for whom this was definitely the primary issue, but many more who seem to have viewed it as a means to an end. And, to my reading (which certainly is not a left wing one), a lot of the book and the opinions of people in the book seem incredibly naive. They believe - based on nothing I can see other than wanting it to be so - that this change will somehow lead to an overall educational utopia where all children are valued and receiving a wonderful education that meets their needs. I'd love the opportunity to ask these people if they think that actually happened or even substantially improved. I'm not sure myself (I think it's swings and roundabouts) but they seem to have expected and assumed so much. I'd love to know if they think they got it. By the same token, little consideration seems to have been made of the possibility that the change they want - no matter how positive they feel it to be in itself - might have side effects.
Factually, the book seems to be excellent with a great deal of care having been taking to accuracy. In terms of opinions, the bias is obvious - but that's not a bad thing. The book was openly pushing an agenda and made no secret of that, and I think a very real effort was made to be balanced and reasonable. That's raised it one full star in my review.
This book was written in the early 1970s and draws heavily on the work of the English lobby group STOPP who lead the - ultimately successful - campaign to end corporal punishment in British schools. There's a lot of interesting material in the book, but what struck me most was the left wing ideology that permeates it at every level. It gives the feeling that this issue was treated by many of the people involved as a wedge they could use to try and 'reform' all aspects of education - yes, there were some for whom this was definitely the primary issue, but many more who seem to have viewed it as a means to an end. And, to my reading (which certainly is not a left wing one), a lot of the book and the opinions of people in the book seem incredibly naive. They believe - based on nothing I can see other than wanting it to be so - that this change will somehow lead to an overall educational utopia where all children are valued and receiving a wonderful education that meets their needs. I'd love the opportunity to ask these people if they think that actually happened or even substantially improved. I'm not sure myself (I think it's swings and roundabouts) but they seem to have expected and assumed so much. I'd love to know if they think they got it. By the same token, little consideration seems to have been made of the possibility that the change they want - no matter how positive they feel it to be in itself - might have side effects.
Factually, the book seems to be excellent with a great deal of care having been taking to accuracy. In terms of opinions, the bias is obvious - but that's not a bad thing. The book was openly pushing an agenda and made no secret of that, and I think a very real effort was made to be balanced and reasonable. That's raised it one full star in my review.
Displaying 1 of 1 review