Smacking ban
MSP says ‘school beatings made me change the law’
THE MSP behind the plan to outlaw smacking in Scotland has revealed how he was routinely belted at school. John Finnie said his own experiences at a school in the rural Highlands had influenced his bid to change the law.
The Green MSP told the Sunday Herald of his past experiences after the Scottish Government announced it would ensure his Bill to ban smacking is passed by Holyrood. Finnie said: “At secondary school I was a disruptive pupil and I was frequently given the belt. That did influence me. It very clearly doesn’t answer anything. It was hugely counterproductive.”
Finnie spoke about witnessing other pupils, in the early 1960s, getting the belt for not knowing the Bible and failing to understand subjects taught in lessons. He also admitted that much to his regret he smacked his own son and daughter, Ruth Maguire, who is now an SNP MSP. He added it was “unthinkable” he would hit his four grandchildren and that his own son and daughter did not smack their children.
Corporal punishment in Scotland’s state schools was abolished in 1987. But parents can claim a defence of “justifiable assault” when punishing their child. However, the use of an “implement” in any punishment is banned, as is shaking or striking a child on the head. Finnie said he hoped an outright ban on smacking would “ideally” be in place within a year. Speaking about his own experiences, he said that being belted for “fooling around” at school influenced his campaign to change the law.
Finnie added: “I went a small rural Highlands school in the early 1960s and I was belted. I saw people belted for not understanding things and not knowing enough of the Bible. I was not a violent teenager. It was to more for fooling about. But it didn’t stop me and I had contempt for the teachers who belted and the classes they took compared to those that didn’t belt.”
Finnie said that he had only occasionally been smacked by his own parents and that he had smacked his own children on rare occasions, but regretted it.
He claimed that not smacking children was normal and that there had been a generational change in attitude. “My children don’t smack their children and the idea of smacking my four grandchildren is unthinkable,” he said. But while the memory of children being beaten at school had influenced his bid to change the law it was not his only motivation, he said, adding that he decided to launch his Private Members’ Bill at Holyrood following conversations with child welfare groups.
He said he was ready to face a backlash from right-wing newspapers and campaigners who claimed a ban on smacking would lead to a surge in parental prosecutions.
However, Finnie insisted the law change was centred around protecting children. “This is about saying that it’s not okay to strike someone because you are unhappy with them. The purpose of this law is not to encourage prosecutions, it’s to send a very clear message about the protection and safety of children. This is about progress. It’s about something that’s normal. Not hitting children is normal.”