one thing i can never get used to is the beating of children in school. children of all ages are constantly hit with small and large sticks, slapped with teachers hands, and having their ears twisted by the sharp twisting of angry fingers (to only name a few). the more astonishing thing is that this punishment does not only come in response to a child "goofing around" or not paying attention, but for getting answers wrong on homework and not answering a question correctly in class.

i watched a child today, Kelvin, get whipped and hit with a stick over and over because he was not writing the correct answers for his in-class work. the teacher never took a moment to sit next to him and describe the exercise in detail and help him discover the answers, just kept beating him as if that would help. the exercise was matching he and she to the names of individuals (asha, simon, edward) but Kelvin did not understand the difference between he and she. so i sat with him for about 20 minutes, and going over that he=boy and she=girl, just like Kelvin is a boy and I am a girl. then we tried the exercise again.

"Kelvin, is Asha a girl or a boy?"
"Girl"
"So is that a he or a she"
"A She"

That 20 minutes probably saved entire class periods of beating.