In America, a parent or teacher's way of discipline is to have a child stand in the corner which is what they call time-out, or take something away from them that they love to play with or simply just lecture them and tell them to go to their room and stay there. Well it is very much different from where I grew up at and is very common til this day. I have a story that I would never forget because it was the first time it's ever happened to me as an older child. Second grade wasn't that old but I remember it clearly because it was embarrasssing and painful. One day, I was sitting and playing with a friend using pencils and I happened to toss one into the air and came down landing on my friend's head. The teacher witnesssed what happened and didn't mention a thing about it until class was over. My friend was completely fine and said that it didn't hurt at all. So once the bell rang, the teacher called out my name and told me to stay behind with my friend. I was confused as to why she had us stay after the bell but we waited til the room was cleared out. Once everyone was gone, she told us that we both had detention because we weren't doing classwork and instead played with pencils. But that was not only it. As soon as she was done, she looked to me with anger in her eyes and told me to hold still. She put one had on my cheek and used her other hand to slap me as hard and as fast as she could before I even blinked. I wasn't expecting this at all from her because I've never seen her do it to anyone and no teacher has ever done it to me. Tears immediately ran down my face as I grabbed my cheek in surprise and confusion. She stared at me and asked me angrily if I knew why she did that. I looked at her afraid that she would do it again and said no. She yelled at me and told me to never throw a pencil into the air ever again because it could've landed on my friends eyes and not her head. We looked at each other and went to sit down at our desks to spend the rest of our detention time in silence. I've always heard stories from my older brothers about kids getting hit or beat by their teachers during a class for misbehaving but I've never seen it nor have it happen to me. I was always a quiet student and behaved during class but I didn't realize how much damage a pencil coud've done if it were to land in her eye. From then on, I never once tossed a pencil into the air and I can say that I did learn my lesson. Discipline here in America is very different to discipline in Samoa as you can see and they both have their pros and cons. Although pain was hard to take, speaking for me and my older brothers, I thought it was well worth it because we've learned so much from it. Things such as respecting our elders no matter what, whether they are right or wrong, never talking back to our parents, and knowing what to do and what to say at the right time. From living here for the past years, kids talk back to their parents all the time or even curse at them and that is something that a kid would never get away with in Samoa. It all comes down to respecting your elders no matter what the situation is.
Hyperlinks
http://www.empoweringparents.com/Teenagers-Talking-Back-How-to-Manage-It-Effectively.php#
http://www.thetwincoach.com/2011/08/discipline-is-not-same-as-punishment.html
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