So who was caned at school?

[MightyBadger]

Caned across the palms once or twice, was guilty by association rather than being a perpetrator (a mate broke a wash basin in the bogs). The wait outside the heads office was much worse than the actual cane

[PhilkSVR]

Given that by today’s standards those stories are pretty barbaric, however when I was at school in the 60’s it was simply the norm. Parents could also give you a slap on the back of the legs. It was the norm. It is simply illegal now. However, what are effective sanctions? Let’s not kid ourselves some pupils are complete aholes and teachers have their hands tied behind their back when dealing with those individuals. Teachers these days have my sympathy.

[Desiderata]

In spite of my experiences with the tawse at school, my wife (who was a teacher) has kept her old tawse for posterity and keeps it proudly on display usually draped over the back of her chair. Maybe she thinks it will keep me in order?

[cheesejunkie]

Going back a generation not my own. My father's back yard wall was one of the school yard walls. My grandmother was not someone you'd mess with when she was in her prime. A strong presbyterian woman who married into a catholic family. The school had boarders, they got the st knocked out of them. An over eager teacher (christian brother) went to town on one of my uncles. My grandmother had words and it never happened again. Dumbass didn't know you don't fk with the locals. I've never asked what she said but my father thinks the threat was his father.

I have been hit with a leather doker but I've been threatened with it far more often that I've been hit with it.

[cheesejunkie]

PhilkSVR said:

Given that by today’s standards those stories are pretty barbaric, however when I was at school in the 60’s it was simply the norm. Parents could also give you a slap on the back of the legs. It was the norm. It is simply illegal now. However, what are effective sanctions? Let’s not kid ourselves some pupils are complete aholes and teachers have their hands tied behind their back when dealing with those individuals. Teachers these days have my sympathy.

I've teachers in the family. I've had that conversation.

Obviously I'm no expert.

But they tell me that class discipline doesn't require violence. The three I'm thinking of would be more against violence than I am.

None teach in this country though.

Yes some pupils are aholes, the more commonly used word is teenagers. I'd choose primary school education all day long if I wanted that job (I don't) .

[singlecoil]

The question has been asked before, but not yet answered. How is discipline maintained in schools currently? I'm old enough to have left by the time CP was removed as a sanction. What has replaced it?

[cheesejunkie]

singlecoil said:

The question has been asked before, but not yet answered. How is discipline maintained in schools currently? I'm old enough to have left by the time CP was removed as a sanction. What has replaced it?

Through respect.

I'm not a teacher but my brother in law reliably tells me that having the respect of the kids works.

I've even picked up one of his tricks. Walk into a room where people want to hear you and talk very quietly. The noise level will rapidly reduce.

No need for slaps.

[ferret50]

Caned on my hands whilst at school in the early 1960's, moving hand out of the line of fire merely earned an extra stroke!

[Terminator X]

Parents yes, not me though - school in 70's and 80's.

Seems well OTT for a modern world imho.

TX.

[CLK-GTR]

cheesejunkie said:

Through respect.

I'm not a teacher but my brother in law reliably tells me that having the respect of the kids works.

I've even picked up one of his tricks. Walk into a room where people want to hear you and talk very quietly. The noise level will rapidly reduce.

No need for slaps.

Exactly. I'm too young for the cane but a smack and other bullying behaviour was exclusively used by the teachers who couldn't get respect any other way. I'd go ballistic if anybody did it to my children, legal or not.

[PhilkSVR]

cheesejunkie said:

I've teachers in the family. I've had that conversation.

Obviously I'm no expert.

But they tell me that class discipline doesn't require violence. The three I'm thinking of would be more against violence than I am.

None teach in this country though.

Yes some pupils are aholes, the more commonly used word is teenagers. I'd choose primary school education all day long if I wanted that job (I don't) .

I think violence is too emotive a word and I am certainly not advocating a return to those days. The word I would prefer to use is sanction. What effective sanctions exist assuming that not all teachers in some very testing environments can rely on gaining pupils respect.

[Gladers01]

MightyBadger said:

Caned across the palms once or twice, was guilty by association rather than being a perpetrator (a mate broke a wash basin in the bogs). The wait outside the heads office was much worse than the actual cane

Also caned across the palm for dropping a stink bomb from the joke shop in a religious education class at school, this girl was handing in her homework and accidentally trod on it in the aisle, the sulphur smell was overwhelming and the whole floor had to be evacuated, would have been one lash only but I wouldn't reveal where the rest of the box was so turned into three lashes and the wait outside the heads office was certainly the worst part

[singlecoil]

cheesejunkie said:

singlecoil said:

The question has been asked before, but not yet answered. How is discipline maintained in schools currently? I'm old enough to have left by the time CP was removed as a sanction. What has replaced it?

Through respect.

I'm not a teacher but my brother in law reliably tells me that having the respect of the kids works.

I've even picked up one of his tricks. Walk into a room where people want to hear you and talk very quietly. The noise level will rapidly reduce.

No need for slaps.

That's a very simple answer but simple answers are rarely complete ones. For instance, what about when there is no teacher present?

[cheesejunkie]

singlecoil said:

That's a very simple answer but simple answers are rarely complete ones. For instance, what about when there is no teacher present?

It's simple for a reason. If you need to slap someone to earn their respect you're unlikely to be worthy of it. I can deep dive on this conversation but I'll not bore everyone. If you want I will.

When there's no teacher present there's no teacher present. Coming back in with the stick does not solve the problem of not being there.

[J4CKO]

When I was at secondary school, 83 to 87, the last vestiges of corporal punishment were in effect.

We had a music teacher that used to hit people with a size 12 trainer sole, she made the mistake of leaving it out one day, one of its victims stole and disposed of it, she was gutted, she had had it for years and made the recipients of its justice sign it. She was a right fat old barrel, it was her thing, never remember learning much about music off her, or the other one who was an even bigger .

One English teacher used to rap on our forehead with his knuckles, it hurt, a lot, varied from ow to unbelievable pain, one kid feigned a seizure after being hit and his mate said he had a brain tumour, teacher st himself and it was much less frequent.

There was the cane, one lad was apparently sent, only heard it second hand but he was told it was going to happen by the deputy head, who was a slight bloke of maybe late fifties silver suit, silver hair, glasses on a chain, early sixties. The kid in question was one of those that was like 30 when he was 14/15, a fully grown man, he made it clear to the deputy head that if he touched him with his cane, he would beat the living st out of him until he was taken away, another punishment was given.

[singlecoil]

cheesejunkie said:

singlecoil said:

That's a very simple answer but simple answers are rarely complete ones. For instance, what about when there is no teacher present?

It's simple for a reason. If you need to slap someone to earn their respect you're unlikely to be worthy of it. I can deep dive on this conversation but I'll not bore everyone. If you want I will.

When there's no teacher present there's no teacher present. Coming back in with the stick does not solve the problem of not being there.

So no answer then. Perhaps someone else will have something useful to say.

[James6112]

CofE school, early 70s when I was 11.
The vicar came in to give weekly assembly, the hall parquet floor freshly polished.
He went arse over tit, his robes all over the place.
Who wouldn’t laugh?!
All of us boys in the top year had to hold out our hand, while the friendly vicar hit the hands with wooden ruler.
I caught it first time so got it twice!
Friendly lot, those men of the cloth.

Same school the year before, headmasters son in my class. He was a bully & untouchable as his dad was the head. I recall he pinched me because he could. I turned & punched him in the face, good hit! I think I broke his tooth. Was caned for that..

I’m still see a couple of guys from back then, still laugh over that!

[dikkobat]

Donno if i posted this previously.

P4 room 8a so 8 going on 9 yr old so mid-70s
My teacher there was Miss W**t – a tall skinny woman with a very pointy nose and very bony fingers and a Calimero haircut.
Now Miss W**t was a miserable sheet of a person….and whats worse….she was a POKER!
She would pull you to the front of the class and shout at you while poking you just under the collarbone…..”Why did you not do blah….i TOLD you to blah and you DID ….NOT….DO….BLAH” and each time it was POKE …..POKE …..POKE……and if you flinched and pulled away (cos it forking hurt) she would go flibbing NUTS!! “DON’T MOVE AWAY FROM ME WHEN I AM TALKING TO YOU” poke poke poke
She forking HATED DoughBoy and poked him mercilessly and she would make him stand in the corner for hours. (We had moved up to Room 9 or 10 by this point I think) and DoughBoy was standing in the corner as usual – he was ALWAYS sent to the corner and could be there for 3hrs at a time). ANYWAY…… he leant on a fire extinguisger (the big triangular red ones about 3 foot tall) and it went off and was whooshing foam or whatever all over the place and Mr L**** the janitor ran in and took it out to the teachers carpark and sprayed it till it ran out!
He got severely poked for that….. (hopefully not by Mr L***** tho!) (Mr L***** the janny hung himself from the wall bars in the gym just before the return from summer hols ….apparently he had been up to “stuff”)(But that was about 5 years after I went to high school)

We also had the belt/tawse up here in secondary school - i was belted abut 36 or 38 times in first year alone, some of the more reckless pupils were well north of 120/150 mark in first year.

[irc]

I would say in Scotland in the 70s the belt was widely used everywhere. I went to a good school in a suburb. It was used regularly. Some teachers got respect without using the belt. Others used it infrequently as a last resort. Some were too quick to use it. ONR geography teacher gave around 35 strokes of the belt in one class. I got belted 2 or 3 times. As far as I remember the belt was preferred to an alternative of getting punishment lines to do as it was over there and then.

In retrospect kids as you as 11 being belted was barbaric. Times change.

[ChocolateFrog]

PhilkSVR said:

Given that by today’s standards those stories are pretty barbaric, however when I was at school in the 60’s it was simply the norm. Parents could also give you a slap on the back of the legs. It was the norm. It is simply illegal now. However, what are effective sanctions? Let’s not kid ourselves some pupils are complete aholes and teachers have their hands tied behind their back when dealing with those individuals. Teachers these days have my sympathy.

We were smacked regularly (and hard) in the late 80's/early 90's at home. Obviously nothing at school by then.

It's only recently that I found out that even then smacking was getting rarer. Made me realise you have absolutely no idea what goes on behind other people's doors.

Never had the guts to bring it up with my parents who I think would be mortified looking back, maybe not.