Mosque teacher found guilty of assault after hitting pupil with stick

EducationGuardian.co.uk | News crumb | Mosque teacher found guilty of assault after hitting pupil with stick: "'He hit me on one of my arms, then he poked me in the chest with the stick and pushed me down,' the boy said. 'It was very hard - it winded me. He told me: 'I hit you for your own benefit. Take it like a man.'"

Just been reflecting on Maggi Dawn's highlighting of the issue of bullying and how it affects and is affected by systemic issues [ie how we run organisations etc] only to see this article flagged up on Bloglines. I have heard that this boy's experience is not unusual at Madrassas [I have a suspicion that some part of the Qur'an or Hadith can be taken to encourage it]. It kind of goes to illustrate further though the way that through mimesis a systemic issue can develop. I suspect that if this guy administered corporal punishment [as alleged] it was more because that was his experience and only secondarily becuse religious texts might have been used to justify it. However, the mimesis won#t be questioned unless the religious justification [or any other ideological justifuication] is effectively challenged. This is systematised bullying and it is little wonder it at least sometimes produces people willing to do likewise.