I do not think hitting children is a good way to show them who’s the boss.
First of all, when you become a teacher, you have to have in mind that children are children, and that they’re gonna’ make fun of you on everything and anything they can find, whether you are gay or not, whether you wear glasses or not.
Second of all, not everyone can be a teacher. It takes natural authority to be a good one. What that means is that you have to command respect just by your attitude, by looking at the children.
When I was in secondary 4 (here in Quebec we have 6 years of elementary school, and 5 years of high school, then Cegep, then university, so this would be the 5th year of high school), we had a physics teacher who everyone hated, we would talk loud, and show absolutely no respect for him. But at the same time, we had other teachers who we did not like, but we just didn’t do anything about it.
Another example is when I was in secondary 2.
That year, we had 3 French teachers. We used to throw rubber balls, coins, we used to tap our feet all at the same time, we used to yell in class etc.
But at the same time, we didn’t do that with all of the other teachers.
My point is, some teachers have what it takes, some don’t.
If we start hitting children because they don’t follow the rules, they’ll grow having in mind that if they ever break the rules, they’re gonna be hit. They’ll grow having in mind that the only way to cope with children is to hit them, and they might even beat their own children.
It was proven that people who beat their wife/children, in a great percentage, were people who had grown up with parents beating them.
It can also be good to break the rules sometimes. Personally, I try to follow the rules as much as I can. But sometimes, if I wanna say something to my friend, I’ll just say it, it takes 2 seconds, it’s off my mind, and I can then concentrate better on what the teacher says. I don’t think I would do it if I thought I’d be hit by doing it.
This could drive children to live in fear. It could have permanent consequences.
Like I said, I don’t want my children to think that because it is the law, it is good, and because it is outside the law, it is bad.
I want my children to be open-minded, I want them to make their own thoughts on the world.