Discipline, then and now

Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) was a member of an illustrious group of Catholic writers in the first half of the 20th century. He died in his early 40s, so he did not become as well known as some of his more famous peers such as Mgr Ronald Knox, Hilaire Belloc or GK Chesterton.

Like Ronald Knox, Benson was the son of an Anglican bishop, but in this instance he managed to go one better than Knox, because his father was the archbishop of Canterbury, Edward Benson. His autobiography, Confessions of a Convert, which was originally published as a series of articles between 1906-07 in the American Catholic magazine Ave Maria, details his gradual progress into the Catholic Church.

He describes the overbearing influence his father had on him during his early years and how stifling this was. However, despite—or perhaps because—of this influence, he found that he was not particularly impressed by Anglicanism.

Something that has always appealed to me about Mgr Benson was his view of moaners and complainers. He once said: “I think that the insane desire one has sometimes to bang and kick grumblers and peevish persons is a Divine instinct.”

My sentiments exactly, especially when it comes to intolerant, oversensitive political correctness.
Which leads me into this tongue-in- cheek but sobering comparison, sent to me by a reader, on the difference between schooldays in 1957 and those in 2010.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fight after school.
1957: A crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up best friends.
2010: The police are called and arrest Johnny and Mark. They charge them with assault and both are expelled, even though Johnny started it. Both children attend anger management programmes for three months. School governors hold a meeting to implement bullying prevention programmes.

Scenario: Robbie won’t be still in class and disrupts the other pupils.
1957: Robbie is sent to the office and given six of the best by the principal. He goes back to class, sits still and behaves himself.
2010: Robbie is given huge doses of Ritalin because his parents are too busy with their careers to really care too much. Robbie gets tested for all sorts of psychological and physiological problems and is sent to remedial classes, which he also disrupts when his Ritalin and various other medicines run low. His parents and school don’t understand why in later years he becomes a drug addict and starts killing people.

Scenario: Billy accidentally breaks a window in his neighbour’s car and his dad gives him a hiding with his belt.
1957: Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2010: Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1957: Mark gets a glass of water from the principal and takes the aspirin.
2010: The police are called, Mark is expelled from school for drug taking. His desk is searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover fireworks from Guy Fawkes night, puts them in a paint tin and blows up a wasps’ nest.
1957: Wasps die.
2010: Police and the Anti-Terrorism Squad are called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism and the authorities investigate his parents. Siblings are removed from home, computers confiscated. Johnny’s dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to travel by air again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during morning break and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary, who hugs him to comfort him.
1957: Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2010: Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces three years in prison. Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.

These are slight exaggerations, I suppose, but it does make a point. As did something that happened only a few years ago when all pupils of a Catholic school in South Africa voted among themselves on whether corporal punishment should be re-instated in an effort to curb bullying and general lack of discipline. Just over 90% of the pupils voted in favour.

When I was at school at CBC Pretoria around about 1957, my classmates were given the wrong end of a particularly nasty leather strap on our backsides when we stepped out of line.

It irks me to see great countries such as Britain becoming such nanny states. And we in South Africa are not all that far behind.