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Thursday, August 08, 2002
EDITORIAL: Making the punishment fit the crime
"BINUANG lang 'to (It's just a joke)."
That was how one teacher responded to her student's jumping off the window on the second floor of the Opol National School last Friday morning.
What happened that day would probably be a reflection of how teachers deal with errant students these days in this part of the country.
According to the report an English teacher named Chona de Amor supposedly scolded her student, a minor, for not wearing his uniform that day.
The student was part of a dance group so most probably he forgot to wear his uniform that day. Instead of heeding a request by the student's mother to send him home the teacher told the student to either take off his shirt or jump off the window.
Whether she said it in jest or actually threatened the student to do it we don't know. We also don't know whether the student is a habitual offender of sorts that the teacher refused his mother's request for him to be sent home.
But the student, admitting that he'd rather jump so he'd come out looking good before his peers than be humiliated by taking his shirt off.
While it's not exactly a dangerous jump--after all it's just 20 feet off the ground--it's not exactly easy for a non-athlete.
Fortunately for this kid he's a dancer so the resistance and the stamina is there. He made the jump all right but not without experiencing some chest pains later at his home.
The results of a medical examination paid in part by the teacher would determine whether he sustained any injuries at all. Initial indicators say that likelihood is remote.
If that student wasn't at the peak of health when he made that jump the teacher would face more than just the principal.
The teacher was probably confident enough in that student's physical conditioning that she didn't hesitate to even suggest that he make the jump. But what if he landed on some rocks or worse, if he landed on someone passing by?
Such punishments may not exactly qualify as corporal in nature but it is a serious penalty nevertheless. When students do wrong are teachers justified to make these calls?
With the results still unknown as of presstime, we could only echo that student's call that the teacher never tells any student to do that stunt again.
Erring students should be punished sure so they would learn the value of self-discipline.
However teachers--and to a larger extent persons in authority but especially teachers since they are influential role models---should make the punishment fit the offense, nothing more. |
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