We are a Sorry Lot, Indeed

"If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed" -Albert Einstein

On Wednesday morning, one of my 1^st period students (definitely my favorite class…and, yes, I tell them that on a daily basis) told me, “Mr. Feak, you’re a nice teacher. You don’t yell a lot and you don’t hit us…Why don’t you hit us?”

Realizing that she wasn’t aware that it is against the law, I told her, “I don’t hit students unless they are really bad. If I hit I them when they are only kind of bad, it won’t mean as much when I hit them when they are really bad.” She completely understood my logic.

Yes, corporal punishment does still exist in American Samoa. As a territory of the United States, it is, technically, illegal. However, it is poorly enforced. At my high school, it has, for the most part, been abolished. However, in the home, it is still rather prevalent. A few weeks ago, one mother informed the administration that, if we are going to hit her child, she ask that we avoid his head and just hit his bottom. As serious as this matter is, all I could do was imagine myself taking one of my 200 pound Samoan students and hitting him on the butt, like a baby, in front of the entire class. What a sight that would be. 

Thus far, I have not encountered a case of corporal punishment. But, of course, one hears stories. What I have encountered are the effects of this form of punishment. 

This afternoon, that same 1^st period student, who I had last today because the schedule flips on Tuesdays and Thursdays, asked me, “Mr. Feak, what happened to your hair? It looked so good when I saw you this morning but now it is all messed up.”

With a hint of truth, I sarcastically replied, “It’s because I have to deal with five classes before yours.” To which she knowingly responded, “So, you get mad at them and it makes you mess up your hair. Why do they make you mad?”

            Sounding very disheartened, I replied, “It’s because they just don’t listen.”

             Now, I am fully aware that corporal punishment isn’t the only reason that they don’t listen. I’ve had students in past years who probably don’t even know what corporal punishment means that never listened. Not listening is a fact of being a teenager. My own parents could never understand how I always managed to know when someone was talking about me, no matter where I was in the house; yet, I never heard a word when they were standing right next to me and talking to me.

            The issue with corporal punishment is that it doesn’t really teach children a good lesson and it makes them unable to learn from any other, potentially productive, form of punishment or reasoning.

            I’ve heard older Samoans say things like, “when I was a kid, when I did something wrong, my mom/dad would whack me with a stick and I’d never do it again.”

            I’m always tempted to ask if they really never did it again or if they simply learned not to get caught. I mean, isn’t that what any physical punishment teaches you? If you get caught doing something that you know is bad, you’re going to feel pain. In the mind of an adult, the logical thing to do might be to stop being bad. In the mind of a child, it seems, the logical thing to do is to not get caught.

            This thought process has made my students some of the best liars I have ever seen.

“Why are you late for class?”

“I had to go to the bathroom”; “I forgot my notebook in my other class”; “My teacher made me stay after”; “I was taking a test”. Teacher at my school apparently give A LOT of tests!

“Why aren’t you working on your assignment?”

“We were just talking about the question.”

“Oh, really? what is the question?”

In a voice that clearly has no idea what the question says, “Uh…what are…my..toe…chon..dre-a?”

“I see. So, what is the Samoan word for Mitochondria? Because I didn’t hear you say ‘Mitochondria’ anywhere in your conversation.”

“It’s…uuuuhhh…”

“Get to work.”

            Literally, they will say or do anything to avoid admitting to having done something wrong. For instance, I kept a student after class today because he refused to listen to me. After sitting there for two minutes he wanted to leave. I asked him to tell me why he was there in the first place.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know? What did you do?”

“I don’t remember. I have a bad memory.”

“If you want to leave, all you have to do is tell me what you did wrong.”

“I don’t remember. I don’t like answering questions.”

The conversation went on like this for a good five minutes. If it was torturing him as much as it was me, I figured it was punishment enough. Although, I never got a straight answer out of him.

            Of course, I have no idea if this student is physically punished at home and I would never make such an assumption. However, this is precisely the attitude my fellow teachers and I experience constantly. Students don’t understand that, if they simply own up to their mistakes, engage in a conversation where they show some sign of understanding of what they did and why it was bad, things will be a lot easier. They are just so used to being hit without any real explanation of why they shouldn’t being doing what they are doing that all logic seems completely lost on them.

Frankly, I get the occasionally urge to smack a kid in the back of the head too (“A Gibbs” as some of my family members might call it.). Everyone that has ever worked with children probably knows the urge that I’m talking about. Unfortunately, I know my children won’t really learn anything. As difficult as it is, I must continue to use logic. Because I know it’s not completely lost and that, someday, they will understand and they will be better off for it.