Violence always leads to violence [Archives:2006/967/Community]
By: Nisreen Shadad
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When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a teacher so I could correct my students' notebooks and beat those who got under my skin, as that was my belief of a teacher's duty. When I became a teenager, I began to think of inventing an atomic bomb and killing all of the aggressors of human rights, either by legal proceedings or illegal ones – it didn't matter. But what I realize today as an adult is that violence always leads to violence.
It's said that children who are physically punished are more likely to grow up approving of such violence and using it to settle interpersonal conflicts. As far as I'm concerned, 10 to one, that's what happens to many, myself included.
At home, parents very often beat their children vehemently to educate them. Then they go to school – with smiles and hopes they dream and beyond the horizons and borders they look. But the reality they face isn't as sweet as their dreams. Teachers stand in each row armed with rulers as long as them and beat in the name of education. Television does the rest, with its scary cartoons and violent heroes.
The atmosphere children become accustomed to is a war of all against all and they're blamed if they cry, protest or request their rights. They're called impolite or disobedient and will lose marks. So, as they grow up and become as tall as their educators, they speak with menace in their voice and threaten all with retaliatory raids.
Parents and educators, don't complain. They are your fruit, so as you sow, you will reap. I know you aim to teach, but by beating children, they don't learn but yearn. By and large, you think you're right, but truthfully, when you get down to the nitty-gritty of it all, physical punishment, which is a form of violence, is a declaration of failure.
It happens when people simply fail to find a solution to a problem. They beat out of anger, which is more likely to leave long-term emotional wounds and cultivate resentment and bitterness within children. And as a result, violence readily comes to form such children's thoughts, feelings, actions and ambitions.
We should be delicate when resolving any problem because once we do it, we'll keep it up. In using beating to discipline, we should ask ourselves what is our goal. Isn't it to teach children to be self-sufficient and successful in this life and the next? Isn't it to teach that every action has a reaction and every choice they make has a sequence? Will beating help us reach our goals or will it only make them afraid of us?
It's now time for all to become practical and hands-on and to apply the knowledge we've gained and reflected upon. We should continue addressing our faults to keep redeeming ourselves. It's time to understand education in order to build our generation. Children are seeds, so we must choose our sun and rain to make them grow.
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