"IT TAKES A VILLAGE"...CHILD AND YOUTH CARE IN SOUTH AFRICA

A direct quote taken from social media last week. "If parents were allowed to smack their children 15 years ago, would we have stabbings by 15 year olds today?" It followed a number of posts blaming the removal of wooden spoon, slipper, ruler, cane, or strap from schools, criminal justice, child rearing and child and youth care practice. The posts all implied, or said outright that the removal of corporal punishment was responsible, the root cause of young people's misdemeanours today. Especially, they said, incidents of assaultive behaviours against each other and adult authority figures.

This could be one of those "connect the dots" blogs.

Way back and deep in the apartheid era, the secondary school I attended was called the "school for the son's of gentlemen". It was ruled by the cane. Boys caned boys. As did teachers, the deputy Headmaster and the Headmaster. Hat not parallel to the ground ...2 cuts. Hands in trouser pockets...2 cuts. Smoking... 6 cuts and expulsion.

Four years later I taught at that same school. Prefects were no longer allowed to cane boys. The Headmaster and the deputy had that right. Prefects and teachers had the right to "send"  boys to the Head with a note. The same rules applied. He was a very busy man. Staff meeting after staff meeting the headmaster complained that it was always the same boys whose names were recorded in the punishment book.. The boys kept their own records.They boastfully cut marks into their rulers to show the number of strokes they had had.

As a university student I had to find holiday employment to help fund my studies. For four years I managed to get employment at a book and stationery retail shop. The retailer had an arrangement with African township schools. Books and stationery were sold directly to the pupils from stockrooms at the schools. Year one. Teachers walked always around with cane in hand, frequently lashing out at pupils ( boys and girls) for whatever reason. Next year. Cane no longer allowed, the teachers all carried rulers. Following year. Rulers disallowed. Teachers carried pencil length sticks. .... a vestige, a bit remaining enough to be a symbol of authority, position and control. They held onto a little of what they and the young people knew. It was very clear that the teachers had no training in any other way to discipline young people. Scary.

In those same years, Brian Gannon was a child and youth care worker, then called "Junior Housemaster"  at the St Goodenough Home for Boys. There were 6 "Houses" His, - ironically called "Beaton"House. He was studying for a Master's degree in psychology. The apartheid, colonial culture of raising and control of boys was the applied practice. I called it "the whip and whistle" system. It followed the culture of the day. Apartheid was held in control by fear, especially fear of pain. This Home for boys held as good the  white middle class private school practice of military styled regimentation and extensive use of the cane. Boys would bite the edges of their blankets to "íron" their made beds then sleep outside to pass the "white glove" Headmaster's inspection. Brian Gannon believed the system didn't work. So, he challenged the Headmaster. Strangely, the Headmaster agreed to an experiment at Beaton. No whip, no whistles, no bells, no sirens, no bugle calls, no cane, no threats. In three months Beaton fell apart. From unflushed toilets to scruffy uniforms and worse. Brian Gannon said "Here's the proof. The system of the cane and the strict external controlling practices do not work. The young people have internalised nothing. See, take away the external fear thing and they don't function or cope".  The Headmaster and the staff said "There, see - there's the proof. The system works" 
I was privy, able to have access, to the staff meeting minutes of that time. The staff insisted that Brian Gannon... "must go!. He must be removed". But Brian and the Headmaster had somehow bonded. He stayed but so did the old control system. Aside, from this, the idea of a child and youth care workers support Association was born.

In the early 80's, it was Brian Gannon who urged me to problem shoot an ailing facility. On arrival, I knocked on the big Victorian door. Opened by a lady in pink pom-pom slippers, large green plastic curlers in her hair and a wide carved leather strap in her hand. The strap was called "Sister Sarah" and so inscribed. Here the strap as child and young person control was applied because the bible says it should be so. 
"He that spareth the rod, hates his son"( Proverbs 13: 24). and "Do not hold back discipline from the child. Although you beat him with the rod, he will not die.You shall beat him with the rod and deliver his soul from Sheol".( Proverbs 23: 13-14.) That same morning I heard loud cries from the girl's dormitory. A girl had wet her bed and not rinsed her sheets. She was beaten with a kweperlat (quince stick).. Despite all of this the children and young people ran out of control.  Words used were "unmanageable, running amok". A year before, this system was applied. It was missionary based teachings hardened into a sect. When that was removed by the Welfare Department , Sister Sarah and the kweperlat attempted to restore order without success.

The Child and youth care worker walked in on a boys dormitory incident. A 14 year old new-comer stood naked at the end of his bed. A senior boy, feather duster in hand  used it to excite the youngsters genitals. The others awaited arousal and ejaculation. Reported as a critical incident , the initiator said that it was initiation. 'It happened to me and now it is my turn". Turning tho the child"and youth care worker, he said "And you. You you're out of here. And so it was. The child and youth care locked himself in his room for 4 days and then disappeared over night.

Last dot to join.

Only a few years back in the North West Province. It was a semi-rural community - based child and youth care work project.  The Tswana speaking village has an active tribal authority system. We learnt that the child rearing practices in this village for young peoples misdemeanors started with family gatherings and "lectures". Failing this, sometimes the police were called. The police acted as mediators in an attempt to restore justice and equanimity. Failing this, They arranged  a  "kgotla" at the tribal offices. Here a much wider group of significant people will gather . the youth is the centre of the discussion and everyone has a chance to speak. The idea is essentially that of restorative justice and changed behaviour. They say it works.

"It takes a village to raise a child ?"  "It happened to me. Now its my turn."
   
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