So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[Zombie_61]

Which is a lesson to anyone attempting to impose a policy before he has carefully considered whether it will stick. Wanna sacrifice yer cred and respect for rules in general? Lay down a law no one will take seriously.

I'm not absolutely certain, but I'm pretty sure this "regulation" had been in place for several years and for whatever reason(s) the staff had gotten lax about enforcing it. And they never explained why they suddenly chose to beyond, "Because it's a regulation." If they had dealt with it on a case-by-case basis over a longer period of time it might have been better received, but they probably thought it would be easier to spring it on all of us at the same time. Boy, were they wrong.

Prior to "late-1973 to early-1975"....
A trip to the school boiler room where the vice-principal carrying a flat wooden board administered 6 painful whacks on my behind for failure to follow the school policy. A letter from my parents to the school principal was required in order for me to return to class the following day. When I showed ma the purple marks on my rear cheeks...she replied, "oh honey...I bet that hurt!" I believe she gave me a bag of ice to ease the pain. Back then, parents and teachers were on the same page. So much for the "fabulous fifties"!

If the whole "Get a haircut" debacle had occurred a decade earlier I'm sure more parents would have sided with the school. But by then they had lived through everything that happened in the 60s and were probably happy their kids were still in school, so a little long hair wasn't such a big deal.

As far as the "flat wooden board" treatment, I never experienced it myself but I'm 99% certain my parents would have raised all kinds of hell with any school that allowed that to happen to me. Sure, in my very early days I got swatted on the backside more than a few times when I got out of line at home, but my parents reserved all "rights of discipline" beyond a stern talking-to for themselves to determine.

 

[2jakes]

I'm not absolutely certain, but I'm pretty sure this "regulation" had been in place for several years and for whatever reason(s) the staff had gotten lax about enforcing it. And they never explained why they suddenly chose to beyond, "Because it's a regulation." If they had dealt with it on a case-by-case basis over a longer period of time it might have been better received, but they probably thought it would be easier to spring it on all of us at the same time. Boy, were they wrong.

If the whole "Get a haircut" debacle had occurred a decade earlier I'm sure more parents would have sided with the school. But by then they had lived through everything that happened in the 60s and were probably happy their kids were still in school, so a little long hair wasn't such a big deal.

As far as the "flat wooden board" treatment, I never experienced it myself but I'm 99% certain my parents would have raised all kinds of hell with any school that allowed that to happen to me. Sure, in my very early days I got swatted on the backside more than a few times when I got out of line at home, but my parents reserved all "rights of discipline" beyond a stern talking-to for themselves to determine.

After a visit to the boiler room, I never got into trouble again.
Although I hated Math with a passion.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Corporal punishment in Maine schools was outlawed more than forty years ago, but in practice it hadn't been common here since the 1910s, aside from the occasional flick across the knuckles with the edge of a ruler from a first grade teacher. There was a movement against corporal punishment in schools around the turn of the 20th Century, and states began to pass regulations restricting the practice and specifying how, when, and by what means it could be accomplished during these years. Some states and regions were more punctilious about this than others, but in the Northeast, the regulations and restrictions on physical contact between teachers and students were pretty tight, and the "hickory stick" was very much a thing of the past. Aside from the editorial writer at the Saturday Evening Post, most were glad to see it gone.

Of course, none of this prevented one of my eighth grade teachers from throwing a kid down a flight of stairs, or another such teacher from slamming a kid's head thru a plasterboard wall.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Corporal punishment was alive and well all the way up through my high school years in the 80s. I got a few myself. Even as a senior in high school, if you got out of line in class, the teacher took you out into the hallway and “whack, whack, whack”. The whole class could hear it. You were really unlucky if it was my baseball coach, who was about 5’9”, with a barrel chest and forearms that were more like drill pipe. It was common for the teachers to decorate their paddles and keep them prominently displayed in the classroom.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Interesting geographical breakdown of where corporal punishment in schools is still practiced, courtesy of the Atlantic Monthly -- the vast majority of kids still being "swatted" in school today reside in Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and Georgia. As the article states, "It's The Southern Thing To Do!"

 

[Trenchfriend]

Just coming back from underways and took the comfortable railcar. Sometimes, I try to imagine, what the (german) people may have thought, when they sat on the same place, watching out of the windows into the not much different countryside, in the 30s, in the 20s or when the track was newly opened up, in 1887.

Some may have been married and feared to come home to their husbands, others may have been single and unhappy, others may have been single and liked it, others were maybe in the city getting one piece of new clothing, if money allowed it or others maybe visited special doctors or a hospital or things like this. But I think, they must have been much more dehydrated on beeing underways, then. Third-class passengers may have thought: "Damn, why I forgot my seat-pad for this wacker-plate?"

 

[HanauMan]

Thank goodness I was taught in the DoDDS system; totally secular, great teachers who wanted to teach kids and no corporal punishment whatsoever. The education that I received largely made the person that I am today.

Got suspended once in all that time, for a day or so. Otherwise, just a locker full of tardy slips at the end of each semester!

 

[Harp]

Corporal punishment was alive and well all the way up through my high school years in the 80s. I got a few myself. Even as a senior in high school, if you got out of line in class, the teacher took you out into the hallway and “whack, whack, whack”. The whole class could hear it...

First day in French class Brother May was called in by the Dominican nun instructor to administer some discipline.
He reached into the sleeve of his black cassock and drew out a razor strop, which he expertly administered against
two boys whom he had made stand against the chalkboard. Very brutal and unnecessary but he quieted the class.

 

[2jakes]

Interesting geographical breakdown of where corporal punishment in schools is still practiced, courtesy of the Atlantic Monthly -- the vast majority of kids still being "swatted" in school today reside in TEXAS, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama and Georgia. As the article states, "It's The Southern Thing To Do!"

Thanks Lizzie, now I understand the full impact of this sign.
“DON’T MESS WITH TEXAS”

 

[Fading Fast]

I've lost the thread of this country. We have safe spaces in some college for twenty year olds who don't like to hear things they disagree with, yet, in other states, they are still spanking high school kids.

 

[2jakes]

USA TODAY
July 21.2017.
Students in the two-school district about halfway between San Antonio and Corpus Christi whose parents have provided written and verbal consent will receive one paddling for an infraction when they misbehave at school.
Upon registering children for the upcoming school year, parents will be able to decide whether opt in or out.
“If the parent is not comfortable with it, that’s the end of the discussion,” Superintendent Mary Springs.

Texas is among 15 states that specifically allow schools' use of corporal punishment; eight other states have no laws or regulations against it, according to the National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments, part of the U.S. Department of Education. In November, the education secretary at the time, John B. King Jr., sent a letter to state leaders urging them to end the use of corporal punishment in schools, saying the practice is linked to harmful short-term and long-term outcomes for students.

IMO:
The beginning statement should read to include "Parents" as well.

 

[LizzieMaine]

How anyone can think that deliberate, ritualized humiliation of a child, or the infliction of physical violence on that child will accomplish anything constructive or of psychological benefit to that child is completely beyond my comprehension. Obedience won thru fear is not true obedience, and respect won thru fear is actually thinly-veiled contempt. A dog beaten into submission is the dog most likely to tear your throat out when you least expect it.

 

[2jakes]

How anyone can think that deliberate, ritualized humiliation of a child, or the infliction of physical violence on that child will accomplish anything constructive or of psychological benefit to that child is completely beyond my comprehension. Obedience won thru fear is not true obedience, and respect won thru fear is actually thinly-veiled contempt.

My grandma never inflicted physical force for misbehaving. I minded
when she laid down the rules as a kid mainly because of the fact
that I wanted to please her.
My ma, on the other hand was another case.
Boy...she could hit!
But I was too quick for her to catch me as I ran out the back-door
kitchen.
She’d give me that “wait til you come back look”.

I would spend the night with my grandma.
She would never allow my ma to hit me.

Eventually I went to live with my dear sweet lovable grandma.
If I have any sense of decency and being positive towards others.
I owe it to my grandmother.

Darn it Lizzie...I just had recollections of my grandmother holding me
and telling my mom... "You are not going to lay a hand on my boy!”

Excuse me while I get a tissue.

 

[ChiTownScion]

First day in French class Brother May was called in by the Dominican nun instructor to administer some discipline.
He reached into the sleeve of his black cassock and drew out a razor strop, which he expertly administered against
two boys whom he had made stand against the chalkboard. Very brutal and unnecessary but he quieted the class.

Never was on the receiving end of any of that, but heard the usual parochial school war stories about it as a kid. By the early 1970's, the "do as you're told or we'll pound the crap outta ya" mentality had become passé in most parochial secondary schools. Likely it became obvious that the economics were changing, and that it wasn't really a selling point to beat kids into submission anymore. I saw the changes take place around 1970: there was an attempt to appeal to the better angels of our nature that the Jesuits gleefully embraced. The Coach Rockjock types that infested the phys ed department didn't really pick up on the change, but eventually they were all moved out to make way for a more educated and enlightened generation.

As a boy chorister at 9th and Wabash, I was under the baton of a director (priest) who was prone to shoving and paddling with a hair brush. Again, I was a "good kid" who avoided ever getting clobbered. He did, however, hair brush a friend of mine: a sweet and gentle artistic type who committed an infraction so minor that it would have barely warranted a verbal reprimand from any sane adult. My friend has long since forgotten the episode: I have not. Said choir director ended his life as somewhat of a lonely old man, wondering why so few of his former choirboys ever came to visit him. I'd have proffered an opinion on that if asked- but I never was asked.

I have zero toleration for bullies and those who use positions of authority arbitrarily and capriciously. Perhaps my resentment to that kind of misuse of authority stoked the fire that resulted in a strong enough head of steam to propel me through law school. Can't say for sure: maybe I just enjoy being a smart ass with just enough finesse so that just enough people mistake it for wry wit.

 

[Harp]

Never was on the receiving end of any of that, but heard the usual parochial school war stories about it as a kid. By the early 1970's, the "do as you're told or we'll pound the crap outta ya" mentality had become passé in most parochial secondary schools. Likely it became obvious that the economics were changing, and that it wasn't really a selling point to beat kids into submission anymore. I saw the changes take place around 1970: there was an attempt to appeal to the better angels of our nature...

Corporal punishment as I experienced it under the Christian Brothers of Ireland was mindless barbarity
that left lasting resentment. I rebelled against the order and scholastic pursuit and instead of a constructive
experience I simply marked time until graduation. By contrast the clerics came in a far distant second when
I was inducted since the drill cadre and officers I encountered personified excellence in deportment and manliness.

 

[Zombie_61]

Corporal punishment in Maine schools was outlawed more than forty years ago, but in practice it hadn't been common here since the 1910s...

Corporal punishment was alive and well all the way up through my high school years in the 80s...

As I remember it, and I could be wrong, here in California during the late-60s and 70s laws were being put in place to end corporal punishment of students in public schools, but because of the way some of the first drafts were written some teachers were able to use loopholes to continue the practice on occasion. At that same junior high/middle school that tried to get us to cut our hair one of the male "physical education" teachers introduced himself to each new class by explaining what he expected from "his" students like a military drill sergeant, and during his vague description of disciplinary actions he prominently displayed his personal paddle just to reinforce his point. He did all of this in a humorous manner, so we were never quite sure if he was serious about using that paddle until someone put him to the test and found out for themselves. Usually three to five relatively mild swats got his point across, but a few repeat offenders missed a day or two of school because they couldn't sit down.

The one and only time I experienced anything like that was in that same school. I was being one of the "class clowns" that day, and this apparently irritated the substitute teacher. He grabbed one of those "pointers" that teachers often used in those days--a thin wooden dowel with a pointed rubber tip--and casually strolled up and down the aisles between the desks as he spoke. When he got to me he brought that pointer down hard across the knuckles of my left hand, which I'd been using to hold a single sheet of paper steady as I took notes so it was flat on the desk. In pain and angered, I reacted by punching him hard in the part of his body that was closest to me--the crotch. He was standing, I was sitting, and it was just...there. He made his way back to his desk and sat quietly for a few minutes, recovering while the rest of the class murmured in hushed tones about what had just happened. The next day we had a different substitute teacher and I was summoned to the office to discuss the event and have my hand examined by a doctor. A week later they had apparently concluded their investigation because I was once again called to the office where I was briefly chastised for "acting out" in class, but they otherwise decided to "call it even" and apologized for the incident.

 

[2jakes]

As I remember it, and I could be wrong, here in California during the late-60s and 70s laws were being put in place to end corporal punishment of students in public schools, but because of the way some of the first drafts were written some teachers were able to use loopholes to continue the practice on occasion. At that same junior high/middle school that tried to get us to cut our hair one of the male "physical education" teachers introduced himself to each new class by explaining what he expected from "his" students like a military drill sergeant, and during his vague description of disciplinary actions he prominently displayed his personal paddle just to reinforce his point. He did all of this in a humorous manner, so we were never quite sure if he was serious about using that paddle until someone put him to the test and found out for themselves. Usually three to five relatively mild swats got his point across, but a few repeat offenders missed a day or two of school because they couldn't sit down.

The one and only time I experienced anything like that was in that same school. I was being one of the "class clowns" that day, and this apparently irritated the substitute teacher. He grabbed one of those "pointers" that teachers often used in those days--a thin wooden dowel with a pointed rubber tip--and casually strolled up and down the aisles between the desks as he spoke. When he got to me he brought that pointer down hard across the knuckles of my left hand, which I'd been using to hold a single sheet of paper steady as I took notes so it was flat on the desk. In pain and angered, I reacted by punching him hard in the part of his body that was closest to me--the crotch. He was standing, I was sitting, and it was just...there. He made his way back to his desk and sat quietly for a few minutes, recovering while the rest of the class murmured in hushed tones about what had just happened. The next day we had a different substitute teacher and I was summoned to the office to discuss the event and have my hand examined by a doctor. A week later they had apparently concluded their investigation because I was once again called to the office where I was briefly chastised for "acting out" in class, but they otherwise decided to "call it even" and apologized for the incident.

During high school gym class, in the days when a wooden paddle with holes
in the middle was used by the coach to punish offenders.

I had the misfortune of having my gym shorts stolen.
At the start of the gym class, we would line up inside the
gymnasium.
Failure to suit up meant a whacking.
In the loud echoing of the gym, the coach (ex-marine) yelled,
“step up and bend over”.

I was scared but refused and did not budge. I explained
to the coach the reason why I had not changed.
He insisted I step out and take my punishment.
I refused.
He glared at me for the longest time but I still did not move.
He then walked away.

Truth be told, I was more embarrassed of being spanked in front of everybody.
Had I been in his office with just the two of us I might have complied.

 

[2jakes]

The scene from the movie "A Christmas story” where Ralphie is made
to put a bar soap in his mouth is true in some respects.
In Catholic school, the mention of other religions, the penguins
would take a toothbrush with hand soap and make you brush your teeth.
More severe was the use of a wooden board with bottle caps attached
in which you were forced to kneel on it.
I was fortunate that I only went for one semester before going to public
schools when my dad found a job in the city.

My dad was pretty cool, one time I forgot my homework and I knew I
was going to be punished. I told my dad I didn't want to go to school.
So he took me to work with him with the understanding not to tell
mom.
Many years later I told ma but
the statue of limitations for
punishment had expired.

 

[LizzieMaine]

When I was about four years old I punctuated an argument with my mother by telling her to "kiss my a**" which was a phrase I heard her use a dozen times every day. She gave me the "mouthful of soap" routine, and I swallowed it and laughed. "Gimme some more!"

Then I ran out behind the house and threw up. But she never tried that with me again.

 

[ChiTownScion]

During high school gym class, in the days when a wooden paddle with holes
in the middle was used by the coach to punish offenders.

I had the misfortune of having my gym shorts stolen.
At the start of the gym class, we would line up inside the
gymnasium.
Failure to suit up meant a whacking.
In the loud echoing of the gym, the coach (ex-marine) yelled,
“step up and bend over”.

I was scared but refused and did not budge. I explained
to the coach the reason why I had not changed.
He insisted I step out and take my punishment.
I refused.
He glared at me for the longest time but I still did not move.
He then walked away.

Truth be told, I was more embarrassed of being spanked in front of everybody.
Had I been in his office with just the two of us I might have complied.

I recall one gym class coach (also the head football coach) face slapping the kid next to me for plastering his nickname on his gym trunks. My impression was that an ex- Marine who had to resort to face slapping a 14 year old kid for something so trivial was nothing more than a ********* coward and a bully.

A few years after I had graduated, this same football coach/ gym teacher ended up as head football coach at my university. His reputation was that he was soft spoken and scholarly. Perhaps in the ensuing ten years he'd actually grown up. I never encountered him, glad to say.