Say no to the ‘reasonable force’ bill

I am not writing this in a way to ruin reputations of schools and teachers nor to anger parents or the government. 

This is simply my opinion on the matter.

What is reasonable force? 

According to the legal dictionary definition it reads: The amount of force necessary to protect oneself or one’s property. Reasonable force is a term associated with defending one’s person or property from a violent attack, theft, or other type of unlawful aggression. 

Reasonable force is also known as legal force.

Firstly, the government, enforcing a law which could lead to bigger problems than just disagreeing with it. It could possibly lead to some teachers using this opportunity as a power to dominate children in fear of them by using ‘reasonable force’ or in the students eye and in some cases in the parent/parents eye is abuse. 

When the teacher is questioned they could possibly answer ‘He/She deserved it because he/she didn’t do his/her homework’ or ‘It’s her/his fault for coming late to class and I’m only teaching him/her not to be.’ But did she/he deserve it? A simple ‘late to class’ or ‘hasn’t done his/her work’? No I think not and this is where the rest comes in.

It is not just the teacher’s fault, the school systems fault, the student’s fault, the parent’s fault nor the government. All play a part in this battle. 

The school system should improve disciplinary actions and the government should encourage this by finding ways to solve this problem such as maybe 10 detentions you get suspended and three suspensions you are expelled however it may work just without the abuse. 

There is no need for any physical abuse; in no way is physical abuse the right road to take because it could also lead to mental and emotional abuse. No one should have any right to lay a hand on a child in any abusive manner.

You may see the smiling mask that covers it all but then you start to hear it “Suicide” and “Died in the hospital after he/she got that beating because he/she didn’t cut/braid his/her hair”. 

Whispers will begin to spread as some people may begin to think that ‘reasonable force’ is a silent way of saying abuse is okay as long as you have your reasons? 

What if your reasons are not acceptable in court if the abused child’s parents files charges. What then? Ruin another reputation, one more adding to the list of jobless people in the world because the government decided to bring back ‘reasonable force’. What makes what back then was any different from now? Nothing. Just possibly ruining a few lives.

Kids are still skipping class, not doing their homework , smoking and getting drunk in school. Is there any difference? 

The only difference I see is that teachers will have the satisfaction of using ‘reasonable force’ on a child all because they wouldn’t listen to them without sending them to the right disciplinary road. 

Parents should be informed of their misbehavior so they can deal with it as well because parents don’t want to send their kids to school worrying they’ll come back abused. They don’t pay for the school to abuse their child/children. And yes, some may agree to this technique of discipline and allow the teachers to abuse their children but some may not too. 

No one has a place to say in how a parent may raise their child but the major discipline should be coming from the students parents because that is their job. To raise their children the way they want to. Not a teacher, not a law, not anything.

No child should live in fear of being abused. They should be able to speak up if so happened but some may fear to, because they may think it wouldn’t matter, that their voice although it is small doesn’t matter but it does. 

At home, at school or in public they shouldn’t be living in that kind of fear. With this ‘Reasonable force’ law could possibly lead to physical abuse, mental and emotional abuse without question. 

Some cases will have no proof as no one had witnessed it happen and speaking up was all for nothing but it was for something because I and many others, heard you. Help to prevent a problem, don’t wait till it becomes one & fix it now. Don’t let this law be real, to let it be someone’s silent way to abuse because you have ‘your reasons’ and please, oh please don’t let it be another’s downfall.

This is my post on social media that I do not agree with the law-endorsing teachers using reasonable force against students. 

Thank you and I would very much appreciate that nothing negative will come out of me posting this because my opinion matters somewhere, to someone and so does yours.

 

Alexandra Lui

Samoa Observer

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