I am a Guyanese social worker residing overseas for the past 13 years. I am deeply disturbed by the letters being published in support of beating children in school or anywhere as a method of discipline. Why must we repeat the mistakes of the past. On the one hand there is no empirical data to support the view that beating children will result in a child being disciplined. On the other hand there is proof that a child can grow up with much hate for his abusers and in fact experience emotional and psychological trauma as a result of beatings.

I can speak for the number of children who are abused by teachers simply because they have a learning problem which our teachers are not trained to detect or cope with. FURTHER IN A SOCIETY FILLED WITH STRESS WHO WILL PROTECT OUR CHILDREN FROM THOSE TEACHERS WHO TAKE THEIR PROBLEMS TO SCHOOL and act out their frustration on innocent children. Physical abuse of our children must stop and it is time that the laws in Guyana be changed to outlaw beating of children in schools.
Linden Jordan,
Chicago Illinois