Beaten In Life

Is it okay for teachers to hit students?

The surprising truth is that some people would say 'yes'. It's not that they are cruel and sadistic, they are simply old-fashioned. Years ago, teachers hit their students just as a means of disciplining them. It was quite a normal event, especially for boys. Plus, we've all read nineteenth century novels in which kids are 'caned' by their 'schoolmasters'. Many people who have lived through the era when corporal punishment in school was acceptable, deem it acceptable even today. They think a little bit of harshness does no harm, it only makes you tougher. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Wrong.

Before you go on reading this, let me tell you something- I was hit by teachers when I was younger. The teachers who hit me didn't care that I was a kid, didn't care I was a girl. They didn't care about anything, really.

The first time was when I was nine. I cleaned a school desk with a duster, making it dirtier. The teacher walked in just then. Till today, the events that followed have me convinced that this particular teacher had serious mental troubles. Before I knew it, she was charging at me with her teeth bared (I'm not making this up). The next thing I knew was that my neck was being slapped. Thrice. The sound of her palms hitting the back of my neck was so loud and disturbing that all the children in class who were sitting down, stood up in shock. Everybody stared at me with their eyes wide open. I could see how disturbed they were.

The teacher yelled hysterically, "My students have to clean the dusty desks every morning. How dare this girl make them dirtier than they are?"

I was shaking from neck to toe. Resisting the urge to cry, I walked to my bag and pulled out a napkin. I meticulously wiped the desk clean. All eyes were on me. I was a freak show, having her 'off-moment' in the presence of all my school friends. The teacher kept yelling at the top of her lungs, and I was too shaken to listen to her.

This teacher kept troubling me throughout the school year, often singling me out. There was a time when she said I was 'irritating' and I was left wondering if 'irritating' was even a word a teacher could use for a student. It seemed to personal a word, a word that you used for nosy neighbors and talkative aunties. I was nominated to be school prefect, and when she heard of my 'nomination' she marched into my class and declared, "The candidate is miserable. Look at her, she can't even stand straight or talk right". Once again, I said nothing. I thought I could fight through whatever negative energy she was transmitting to me. I went for the 'prefect' interview and eventually did become a prefect, and nobody understands how happy I was that day.

I won't go to the extent of saying that what she did ruined my life. A lot of suicide cases stem from such incidents, but I didn't feel suicidal or anything. In fact, I didn't even tell my parents about it. At the time, I thought tomorrow would be another day and tomorrow, I wouldn't be hit by a certifiable lunatic teacher.

But can I say that the incident had no effect at all? Absolutely not. For a long time, all my friends kept blaming me for the incident. You see, when you're just nine, your teachers are like Gods. they can do no wrong. They are respected and feared and if they do something to you, well, you must have done something to deserve it. I was branded as the 'wrong' girl because not only had I 'provoked' a teacher, I had also not cried after being punished.

Also, I sort of lost faith in the school system way too young. A lot of kids think of school as the centre of the universe. But from what I saw, school was a place where partiality and meanness thrived and very few teachers really want what's best for you. I don't know how it happened, but after the incident,. most of the teachers started singling me out, and I had a really hard school life.

You would think my experiences with corporal punishment were limited to this one experience. You'd be wrong. At ten, I was in my school's dance club. Before even holding a proper audition, our teacher divided us into two groups, one with the good dancers (all the cute girls were in this one) and one with the bad dancers (I was in this one). When I could get a step straight, my teacher hit me so hard, my back throbbed for several minutes. Some of the mean girls laughed at me.

I have reviewed these incidents in my head several times, but no matter what way I look at them, I can't help but feel that I was wronged. I never call myself a 'victim'; it goes against my personal code. However, in these few incidents, I had difficulty defining my position without using the word 'victim'. Why do teachers act like this? They're supposed to show us what's good, what's right. They shouldn't judge us or be biased against us. So how come teachers hurt us when they are supposedly in their right minds?

Everything's fine now. I don't even think about the things that happened so long ago. In fact, given the treatment I got from fellow students and teachers in my formative years, I sometimes feel proud of myself for not having turned into the conventional 'screw-up kid' who acts like a rebel all the time. But that doesn't mean what happened was right. These days, kids have top deal with a lot of pressure. You can't make things worse for them by hitting them or being biased against them. You may think you're not doing much harm, but you are. I have been fortunate to find some very supportive teachers too, and I have some good memories with my teachers. I just wish I had met more good teachers and skipped the bad ones.