Trauma is a loaded word—carrying burdens that are often invisible until something triggers an eruption. The first part is the event that invokes it, some truly cataclysmic occurrence that horrifies and terrifies to such an extent that even if it seems to have dissipated with time, it is a continuous …
Read More »Vaneisa: Parenting and punishment—“discipline is often equated with physical violence”
He was telling me about a group discussion about childhood. In an unfamiliar environment, he’d told those strangers that he had experienced what he’d considered a typical West Indian approach to discipline. Licks. When they pressed for details, they concluded that it had been abuse. “I learned about a thing …
Read More »Vaneisa: Violence only begets violence; T&T needs a paradigm shift from our brutal moorings
It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the barrage of brutality. How many times in recent days have I felt my stomach churn because of the news bombarding us? Rage is roaring through our space, so unfettered that we can’t help but feel that, here and now, all fall down. …
Read More »Noble: ‘Good guys’ and closed doors—how abusers operate
‘The things that happen to people we will never really know. What happens in houses behind closed doors, what secrets’ — Lee Harper, To Kill a Mockingbird. This quote came back to life this week as we tried to digest the horrors of domestic violence in our land. We attempt …
Read More »Vaneisa: Should we hang? Does death penalty really act as a deterrent?
A young woman wrote this to me after my last column: ‘I’ve been thinking about this death penalty debate. I don’t know where I stand…’ It recalled for me a time when I too, did not know where to stand and how that changed. I easily remember traumatic episodes from …
Read More »Dear Editor: Is Children’s Authority advocating child beating and encouraging victim blaming?
“In one ad, the Authority states: ‘Ensure children are appropriately dressed, to avoid exposing them to unwarranted attention from predators’. This message places the blame for sexual assault on the child’s appearance. “Surely this cannot apply to the babies, toddlers, children and teens assaulted in their homes, by trusted adults! …
Read More »The cost of marginalising Tech-Voc Education (Pt 3): corporal punishment, “weak” students and loss of teacher time
“In the old 10%-entering-secondary-school days, some schools allowed students to follow an accelerated four-year programme to take the external examination. “Would it not make sense to have a similar programme which provides six or maybe even seven years as the norm to cater for the weaker students or, alternatively, have …
Read More »Dear Editor: MP Olivierre should stop politicking with child welfare and corporal punishment
“School violence in Trinidad and Tobago did not start with Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s term of office as Education Minister. That is a false premise, and when you start with a false premise, your argument is dead in the water.” In the following Letter to the Editor, novelist and social activist Merle …
Read More »Letter to the Editor: The real discipline problem; Govt must take steps to train T&T’s parents
“Our big problem is that we abolished corporal punishment but did not put anything else in its place. Our children are, therefore, operating in an environment where there is, in effect, no consequence for bad behaviour. That has resulted in a general breakdown of discipline, nationwide. “Discipline is much more …
Read More »Discussion: Should T&T be reaping the benefits of the end of corporal punishment by now?
Corporal punishment was removed from schools over 15 years ago and there seemed to be a strong moral argument to abolish “violence” against children. But should that not mean young people—at least below the ages of 23—ought to be significantly less violent? Whether or not you believe that abolishing corporal punishment was the just …
Read More »Thanks Pa: Raffique Shah’s moving tribute to his late father, Haniff
Fathers like mine—ordinary men who are barely literate in most instances and worked hard to provide for their families—are remembered only by their immediate families and maybe some friends and people in the communities in which they lived and died. In a society where success is measured by materialism or …
Read More »Working women: No corporal punishment; Dillon will only increase school violence!
National Security Minister Major Edmund Dillon will only encourage increased violence in schools if he reintroduces corporal punishment, according to the local civic group, Working Women for Social Progress. The following is the press release issued today by the Working Women: We accept that it may become necessary to remove …
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