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An Informed Decision

by Paul Rosemount
The assembly hall of the local school was no more than a quarter full. The Principal and Vice-Principal sat together behind a long, heavy table on a low platform, facing out into the body of the hall. Facing them, seated on rows of benches, were fifteen women in their late thirties or early forties and behind them were rows of teenage girls - their daughters, step-daughters, or, in a few cases, nieces. The Principal stood up and began speaking.

"I'm not going to make a speech - you all know what we're here for, and what the magistrate's opinion was." This was true - everyone present was well aware of the issue that had almost split their little community: should the school use a paddle to discipline teenage girls? Arguments and counter-arguments had been put forward, sides had been taken, debates had turned into protests...

Interestingly, not all of the teenagers themselves had been anti-paddle.

"I'd rather have a few swats and get it over with, than spend my free time in detention," one girl was quoted as saying.

"Over with! If I got paddled at school, my dad would give me the same again when I got home," another had replied.

As the debate had got more heated, with no end in sight, some parents had threatened to hire lawyers, either to defend their right to discipline as they saw fit, or to charge with assault any teacher who laid a hand on their daughters. In the end, a compromise had been agreed on - a local magistrate had been prevailed upon to hear both sides and give a ruling. He had decided that the matter should be settled by a secret ballot, in which the female parent, or legal guardian, of the girls in question would be entitled to vote - but only after the school had given them the fullest possible understanding of what precisely was involved. The choice of the female parent as the arbiter was simple - all of the girls involved had a female guardian, but as some women were widowed or divorced, not all girls had a male parent.

"This must be an informed decision," the magistrate had said. "Not one based on prejudice or hearsay evidence," and he had tasked the school Principal with making sure that this was so. Thus, today's meeting. Not all of the mothers had attended - quite a few, when hearing what the meeting entailed, had given up their right to vote, but there were enough left to make the ballot binding.

"You also know what the ballot involves," continued the Principal. "You will be asked to vote on three questions: the main one of whether paddling should be allowed or not, and two supplementary questions - first whether such punishment should be given over clothing, over underclothing or on the bare; secondly, the maximum number of strokes permissible - this is a number between three and ten.