‘Girls can be more vicious too’: Singaporeans weigh in on school caning debate

SINGAPORE: Many Singaporeans online have reacted to an opinion piece on the recent announcement from the Ministry of Education allowing for caning in schools in egregious cases, but only for older males.

Gen X mother Ruth Chew wrote a piece titled “Only boys are caned in schools – but what does that teach our daughters?” published in CNA on Wednesday (May 13).

Ms Chew, a mother of two daughters, wrote that the announcement concerning caning had struck a nerve, and said she had been caned growing up. She raised several points concerning accountability and the goal of disciplining children, and said that her daughter, 17, had wondered why only boys would be caned, since girls have also been bullies.

Like Workers’ Party MP Jamus Lim, she also cited research that said physical punishment is ineffective in changing behaviour, and can have negative long-term effects, though acknowledged that MOE’s measures are meant to send the signal that bullying is unacceptable. However, she expressed uncertainty about caning, as it does not seem to make children understand why their actions were wrong.

Commenting on Ms Chew’s piece, a number of Singaporeans seem to not only still believe in caning, but also said that girls should be caned too, though privately and not on the buttocks, but on their hands.

“During my secondary school days, boys and girls could get caning; the only difference was that boys were caned in public during assembly, while girls were caned in the principal’s office by a female teacher. Both genders have offences announced in assembly because it is to show the whole school what one can expect if he/she did something wrong. School discipline has become so soft over the last 2 decades,” one wrote.

“During my time, girls were caned too. Just not in public. In the Principal’s office. So I don’t see why girls are not allowed to be caned now,” added another.

“I’m a woman, and I have gone through being bullied in school many years ago. And when girls are bullies, they are more vicious than boys, trust me. During my time, it was only about making fun of or calling names, but these days are far worse. In many cases, I see physical abuse done by girls. Some are just so horrendous. So if we just focus on boys, what about girls? Canning should be done for both genders if found guilty,” wrote a Facebook user.

“You’d be surprised, girls who bully other girls are more violent than boys bullying boys,” a commenter agreed.

“Boy-girl disparity aside, the writer is looking through the lens of having well-behaved kids that don’t need the cane. But I’ve seen the worst of them, and some kids do need caning as that is the only language they understand,” one opined. /TISG

Read also: WP MP Jamus Lim says caning bullies may be counterproductive, but Singaporeans push back