Published
Letter: We
Should Educate, Not Punish
Source: Hull Daily Mail, UK
Pub date: Friday, December 17, 2004
Pub LTE: We Should Educate, Not Punish
Author: Carl Wagner
Web:
http://www.thisishull.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=136733&command=displayContent&sourceNode=136395&contentPK=11509424
'WE SHOULD EDUCATE, NOT PUNISH'
How disappointing that Bridlington Secondary School
Headteacher Barry Davies can't come up with something more constructive than
suspension or expulsion for four schoolchildren caught with a small amount of
cannabis (Mail, December 11).
So long as cannabis remains a "street" drug,
seemingly available almost as easily to children as to adults, we will continue
to have these problems.
But let's face it, whatever the reasons children do it, if they
have harmed or threatened nobody, damaged no property, caused no disturbance,
surely expulsion from school is an extremely harsh punishment that will benefit
nobody, least of all the children themselves.
Instead, could I suggest that Mr Davies gets children to
research the cannabis plant, write an essay, and present it to the school
assembly?
That would give them a chance to express their views, learn
and educate others. It would deglorify cannabis use and possibly save their
futures.
Carl Wagner,
Hull