The Editor, Sir:

The recent survey conducted by the University of the West Indies' Centre for Gender Development Studies and reported in the March 26 edition of The Gleaner entitled "Corporal punishment not a form of violence - students" reflects negative perceptions of violence by students.

Corporal punishment initiates a chain of events in the personality of a child. Some children escape by reason of resilience and some children are scarred for life, although they may not know it; they may lead seemingly normal, materially successful lives without ever becoming aware of what happened to them. Then they die. Identifying these children and young people before they hit a crisis is perhaps not easy.

Corporal punishment has been used as a tool of oppression rather than a tool of discipline. It creates indiscipline in some people and passivity in others. It is a double-edged sword. It is an idea that has taken root in our culture as a result of the system of slavery and the continued justification of its use after emancipation with the sanction of the State and the Church. The fact that it has taken Jamaica hundreds of years to take dramatic action on the issue of corporal punishment in schools speaks to the fact that few people have made significant recovery.

I speak for those who cannot speak because they have been silenced by fists, whips, garden hoses, tamarind switches, sticks, rulers, pots and pans, and belts, etc.

Nevertheless, I remain confident that these young people who advocate violence in the form of beating children and showing support for beating women can change their perspective.

I am, etc.,

A. M. ANSARI

stop1998@aol.com

Via Go-Jamaica