After reading the letter captioned "Physical abuse by teachers should not be tolerated" (24.1.04) by N Yeomans I am truly surprised at his statement about children in school being given corporal punishment in Guyana and that teachers should be prosecuted, this based on what happened to his nine year old daughter.
I agree some individuals tend to go overboard as teachers punishing children but some parents are also guilty of the same offense, they even inflict more injuries on their own children than some teachers.
Mr Yeomans failed to say if he had sent a note to the teacher stating his daughter's illness causing her inability to do her homework.
I think not. For him to call the teacher an ignoramus in his letter says a lot because if he had done what he should have, as I pointed out, there would have been no need for that.
As a child attending Plaisance Methodist School in Guyana I got many a whipping but in my opinion it made me a more serious student which assisted me greatly when I went on to high school. It even caused me to get to sixth standard at an age too young to take what was called the School Leaving Examination.
I am sure many Guyanese in my age group can relate to what I am saying. Mr Yeomans, living in Canada, is trying to equate the two systems but he should not, it is a different environment.