See her full article from the Telegraph.....
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2008/01/03/do0303.xml
This has drawn LOTS of comments in a VERY short time !!!
SC
example comment.........
Sir,
I have never read such an eloquent plea for the reintroduction of corporal punishment in British schools as this article by Lynette Burrows, even if it was not intended as such. It is grossly unfair to expect teachers to teach when the law forbids them from maintaining order and discipline and from protecting themselves from verbal abuse and physical assault in the classroom. That they are subject to legal sanction if they do attempt to defend themselves merely adds insult to injury.
It has been said that anyone having to use physical force has no arguments left. I would respectfully suggest that the threat of getting getting six of the best - applied so it draws tears - is a pretty powerful argument for not telling the teacher to his or her face to go and perform a physically impossible act on him or herself. And let's face it - sweet logic or coloured handkerchiefs never persuaded a stroppy sixteen year-old yob. In an age where parents are wilfully neglecting to bring up their own children and are expecting the schools to assume this function, it seems - unfortunately - that physical force and pain are the only things that unruly pupils are going to understand. And if children are not learning discipline at home due to the failure of their parents, then the schools are going to have to do the job.
Corporal punishment never was and never will be a panacea but I believe that discipline problems in British schools would be reduced considerably in a pretty short space of time if corporal punishment were reintroduced. Should this come about, I have only one plea, namely, that girls of all ages be eligible for it as well as boys.