Caning at MOP

Perhaps this is the side effect of growing up in a home where violence was never the answer and none of us were ever beaten, but talking seems like it would gain more respect than physical punishment.  If we want kids to use words to solve a problem, how is a beating going to serve as any kind of example?  This Wednesday, I witnessed my first caning.  Two or three boys in first grade, I think, were sent to Sir Austin to be caned.  The punishment is 10 lashings. For everyone.  So even when the boy stands there with his hands in his pockets, tears streaming down his face, and nose running half way through, he still has 5 more lashes to take.  The school is outside and everyone can hear and see everything, so not only is there physical pain, but the public humiliation that your classmates have no problem giving.  Half the students are craning their necks around the white boards, smiling at the victim’s pain.  Not that the last is unique to Ghana; all kids/people tend to laugh at others’ pain or expense. It’s just not something that’s done at home anymore.  Is the principle allowed to administer paddlings anymore, or only with express written permission? It used to be the other way around.  Here, teachers can slap a student’s hand or the back of their head as a quick reprimand. It’s just a whole new world.