IN response to your Education Focus article (Evening News, May 14), regarding the use of corporal punishment in schools, I am amazed to read the comment by Headteacher Graham Coyle.

Under no circumstances should smacking or the slipper be returned to the school environment. There is, in my opinion, no justification for it whatsoever.

I am not in favour of smacking in any situation if at all possible, but I do believe that in the context of the home environment, parents do have the right to raise their child as they see fit, as long as this is reasonable and fair. However, in the school setting and administered by other adults, this is both unreasonable and morally wrong.

His statement that it should be used for "repetitive, serious misdemeanours, deliberate disrespect and dishonesty," does not aim to solve these issues in any way. Children are people in their own right, they are not objects. They learn by example and will discover right from wrong by being treated with respect, encouragement and fairness, not by humiliation through the use of beatings.

Finally, Mr Coyle seems to think it is a comment on society when we cannot see the difference between a loving parent and someone who has lost control. Individuals vary greatly in what they consider to be loving, and likewise in what is considered as "losing control."

I think it is a far greater comment on society that we would still choose to find the answer to these issues in the form of physical violence.

LEAH J CLARKE, Worcester.