Stand or deliver

While it's difficult to find data on the prevalence of physical punishment in China's schools, some teachers seem to be unable to keep students in line without inflicting some form of physical hardship. Recently, a head teacher at a primary school in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, reportedly punished a student by making him stand for an extended period for failing to bring in money from his parents to be donated to the victims of last month's earthquake in Ya'an, Sichuan Province. While his parents were shocked at the treatment of their child, both the head teacher and headmaster of the school have denied that any such punishment took place. This raises another question: Why on earth was anyone being forced to donate money to a cause? While those who bend under orders of mandatory support must feel some joy from doing a good deed, they nonetheless must be wondering why kindheartedness should always be associated with money. Furthermore, these schoolchildren, watching their classmate suffer physical punishment, must have been confused about the moral compass of their teacher. If the point of the donation was to teach children to be kind, the teacher would have been better off leading by example.