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The "Board of Education"


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Speaking of Third Grade, there are a few of us here of an age to be able to recall a time when corporal punishment was practiced in public schools.

 

Any experiences to share?   :rolleyes:

 

I had a few... some funny, a couple not so much.

 

One "not so much" comes to mind:  About a month after the start of the school year, the family moved from near Port Isabel, Texas to Waco.  First day in my new third grade class.  Teacher tells me to go to the blackboard and execute a long-division problem - something totally foreign to me.

 

I explained politely that did not know how to do this, as we had not yet studied long division at my "old" school.

 

So... I was invited to the teachers desk, bent over, and paddled soundly, thoroughly, and quite painfully in front of the entire class for not knowing how to do long division.  There were grins from a couple of the other boys in the class, but the rest of the kids appeared to be shocked and had a suddenly renewed interest in long division.  (That evening at home I requested and received some intense tutoring in the subject.  I dare say I leapfrogged over a few of the natives of that classroom!) 

 

This was neither my first - nor last - meeting with the "Board of Education."  But was the last from that teacher, after a visit from a certain female member of my family.  :huh:

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I attended ten different schools in my twelve years of public education. Whenever I started a new school, my father would escort me to the principal’s office. He would introduce himself and then say, “This is my son, Tommy! If he gets outta’ line, you bust his ass. Then let me know and he’ll get more of the same when he gets home!!”

 

Over that span of years, I probably got away with a lot more than I got caught at.  BUT!! I got my hide tanned a good number of times!

 

 My old man was good for his word!!

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Paddles were common when I was in elementary school.  My 4th grade teacher caught me passing notes with a cute blonde in my class, and she was unhappy with the disruption.  She told me to go home, and to bring a piece of lumber to school the following day.  I told my Dad, and he knew exactly what she had in mind.  He made a custom 3' long paddle that night, and sent me off to school with it the next morning.  Tanned  my britches.  I was a one-time offender.

 

LL

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Had a teacher that made me write x number of sentences as a punishment a number of times. I wrote so much that my fingers would cramp up and lock. To this day, almost 60 years later, my right thumb will lock up and I have to force it to bend with a noticeable "crack"!:angry:

 

Also got the "board" a few times in the Principal's office for other infractions. (At least the ones where they caught me.)

 

 

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Never got "The Board" at school as I'm a "Rule Follower," but at home had to find my own switch outside or got the belt a couple of times before I became a Rule Follower. As an elementary school teacher, I had to witness pops in the principal's office a few times. In junior high school, I worked in the front office instead of taking sewing, and I remember several times boys (never saw a girl) were waiting for the assistant principal to get pops.

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My parents enrolled me in a private Catholic school, even though we weren't Catholic.  They thought the education would be better for me.

 

WWWEEeeeeeeellllllll

 

I was raised bilingual, German and English.  They didn't offer German at this school, only French and Spanish, in elementary school mind you.  The nun was going around the room having us pronounce a word she had written on the board.  I kept pronouncing it with a German accent.  She kept correcting me.  After three tries, she calls me to her desk, opens the top drawer, pulls out a pair of tailors sheers and cuts off one of my two long blond braids at the neckline.  That was my last day in private school and I've had short hair ever since.

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In junior high school if you acted up you were sent out into the hall. The vice principal prowled the halls, and when he found someone standing outside he would question them and then paddle as he considered necessary.

 

One day the boy behind me once WANTED me to change desks. He wanted Debbie to sit in my desk. I tell him no, so he grabs a good handful of the back of my hair and yanks. I turn around and take a swing at him. The teacher saw me, so I went out in the hall.

 

Here comes Wally (vice principal Wallace Williams). He asked me what I'm doing out there, and I tell him, and he sticks his head in the door and requests THAT young man come outside. He spoke to both of us, and amazingly the boy told the truth.

 

He sent me back inside and as I was shutting the door I can hear the whack whack whack.

 

Sometimes they actually do listen to you. But then other times:

 

While waiting outside before school started, you could go to the PE room and get balls - football, them big red dodgeball things -to play with while you were waiting for school to start.

 

They had all been checked out, so me and Fred were playing catch with a rock about the size of a baseball.

 

Teacher sent us to the office with a note saying that we were throwing rocks. Three licks. That was 7th grade, and that man swung a mean paddle. Walking to class trying not to cry, knowing that class has already started so everyone would see you come in and know that you had been down to the principal's office getting licks.

 

That man didn't ask us anything. Just read the note and said bend over.

 

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1 hour ago, Henry T Harrison said:

I spent twelve years in Catholic schools staffed by nuns, what else do I need to say 

Amen, Henry.  Sister Mary Thecla had a ruler an inch square, and knew how to use it. 

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PE class in high school, one of the "inmates" ran afoul of the instructor. Lined him up hands on knees, took a good golf swing and lifted said offender off the floor with the board of education. Class was impressed to say to say the least:blink::o:blush:

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7th Grade, social studies class.  Mr. Berry teaching when not coaching.  He had an oak yardstick about 1/2” thick.  Misbehave in class (which was defined as anything he didn’t like)... go to the front of the class, grab your ankles.  One home run swing of the yardstick.  
 

I was thoroughly cowed.  I hid in the back of the class.  I don’t think he even knew my name.  I never got spanked.

 

For some reason he never did this to girls who misbehaved in class.

 

Psychotic brutal bastard.  I’m glad corporal punishment is mostly a thing of the past, in public schools at least.

 

Maybe why I preferred science class to social studies.

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In 9th grade I got caught passing a note to a female classmate. The teacher told me to give her the note so she could read it to the entire class. As I was walking to the teachers desk I put the note in my mouth, chewed it up and swallowed it. She sent me out in the hall and Mr. Weeks, the principal who was patrolling the hallway asked me what I was doing standing in the hall, I told him I had no idea, he would have to ask my teacher. He went in and then came out a minute later and asked me to follow him to the office where he introduced me to the "Board of Education".

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I never got licks with a board.  At my school you first got 'introduced' to the board, then the next time you acted up you got the licks.  I got introduced to the board once, then they had me copy a letter's worth of the dictionary.  In first grade I did get whacked for writing left handed.  Apparently, there were no left handed children in Mrs Ivy's class.  I had to cut a switch once.  I didn't know what it meant, and aunt made me do it.  My cousins told me what it was for when I went out to get it, so I brought her a dead limb.  She broke that on my behind then made me go cut a good one. 

 

My parents used belts or hands though.  After my dad died, my sister finally told us where she had hidden dad's belt. 

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I was in the 8th grade, and how they got away with this back then I will never know, but kids got one lick with the paddle for every homework math problem that was incorrect.  Poor old Wesley Flanagan, who was dumb as a country rock anyway, when called upon and asked how many problems he missed, replied "NERN".   The teacher, knowing this could not possibly be true, asked again, "how many?"     Wesley then replied "thirteen"...….She held his hand as he spun around in circles with the dust flying from his blue jeans...…..the rest of us howling with laughter.....

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Never been a fan of using objects like paddles, switches, rulers, or belts on kids.

Either as a father or a recipient. Open hand should be enough. It worked for my dad.

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12 minutes ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Never been a fan of using objects like paddles, switches, rulers, or belts on kids.

Either as a father or a recipient. Open hand should be enough. It worked for my dad.

My mother got "the board" because spanking me broke the blood vessels in her hand.

 

I've told my first grade school story once. If you didn't see it, too bad. It has probably archived out.  As a kid I thought it was the worst to befall a kid.

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The principal in the grammar school I attended used to use a ruler on outstretched palms to administer "punishment".  One guy, Teddy, was always in trouble and got more than a few "punishments".  One time, the principal got carried away and broke the ruler.  When Teddy's father ( a carpenter) found out about it he sent a piece of acrylic plastic to the principal and told him "this won't break".  Fast forward 15 years later, I saw Teddy on TV when he was interviewed for the nightly news upon his return to NYC from Vietnam on a medical flight.  The reporter asked him what he thought his mother would do when she saw the clip and realized he had been wounded. He said "she'll probably faint".  That was the last time that the NY nightly news interviewed wounded troops returning to  the states. 

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Y'all are kind of hard onthe nuns.  Sent baby girl 13 years to parochial school, noncatholic, out of parish rates.  When she wad baptised I asked for the difference back but I didn't get it.  Anyway, when I chaperoned an 8th grade intermural dance &saw baby girl slow dancing with a young man from a neighboring parish I asked Sister where her 6" ruler was.  Her response:  Mrs Rourk, we don't do that any more.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Spring of 1967.  I was a sophomore at the then brand, spanking new D W Carter High School in Dallas.  

 

Now, one might think that high school kids are mite mature for the "Board of Education."  'Tain't so.  Well... wasn't at that time, anyway.

 

So one day immediately after lunch, I decided to wander over behind the gym to kill some time before the next class started.  Sort of a "hangin' out spot" for those of us with nothin' better to do.

 

When I arrived, there were perhaps nine or ten other guys already loitering.  And a few were engaged in the sometimes profitable endeavor of pitching pennies.  For those unfamiliar with the game, the players would line up parallel to the wall about fifteen feet distance, pitch their penny, and whoever pitched the penny that ended up closest to the wall won.  Just like marbles, he'd collect 'em and pocket 'em.

 

Well, I'd been standing there (as a spectator) but a moment when suddenly, the Vice Principal, Mr White, rounded the corner and caught four of these fellas engaged in (horrors!) GAMBLING!!

 

Oh, NO!  Known as a strict disciplinarian, Mr White gave the entire group a severe dressing-down, heavily laced with descriptions of the evil of gambling and it's being a step on the road to Hell.  

 

Fast forward to the next day.  Surely Mr White would not materialize behind the gym on two consecutive days.  Uh... yeah; actually he would.  And did.  But this time, it was nickels the lads were pitching.  And this time the man was positively apoplectic.  He turned purple with rage, and railed at us sinners.  Even those of us who just happened to be in the vicinity.  And when his voice began to crack, well... he marched us en mass to the admin building.  We lined up along the wall outside his office and watched him take the first fella inside.  Closed the door... then came a series of "Whacks!"  Finally, the poor kid came out, rubbing his butt, and said "Next!"

 

There were about a dozen of us; I was fortunate to be Numbah Three.  Fortunate, because although it HURT, the more the man paddled, the madder he got, and the madder he got, the harder he paddled.  By the time he finished he had sweat pouring off his face and was trembling with exhaustion.  And the poor linebacker who was the last guy exited the office with tears shamelessly rolling down his upper cheeks as he rubbed his lower.  

 

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my LAST application of a paddle.  Well... until my Kappa Phi Delta initiation in the spring of '70.  :rolleyes:

 

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On 4/23/2020 at 6:47 PM, Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172 said:

Amen, Henry.  Sister Mary Thecla had a ruler an inch square, and knew how to use it. 

This one. Our Lady of Corporal Punishment, pray for us.

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One of my close friends was a handful growing up.  His parents sent him to Catholic School in a effort to line him up.  One day during the 5th grade, the Nun had enough and threw him out the window.  Yes out the window into the bushes .  The class room was on the second floor.   He never went back and made it just fine in public school.  Sounds fictional but it really happened.....Imagine if that happened in 2020, this happened in the mid 60's.

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On 4/23/2020 at 7:56 PM, Subdeacon Joe said:

Catholic school.  Ruler or map pointer across the hand.

Not in my Catholic school experience. Map pointers and rulers might have been slammed on the desk, but never struck a student. 
 

In public junior and high school however, erasers were sometimes thrown at students and an occasional teacher roughed up a student. Thought then and do now that it was a sad state of affairs where a 30-year-old man could abuse a 13-year-old boy. 

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On 4/24/2020 at 4:47 PM, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Never been a fan of using objects like paddles, switches, rulers, or belts on kids.

Either as a father or a recipient. Open hand should be enough. It worked for my dad.

Me neither. My dad used a shoe or belt. He had so many other options that would have been as or more effective. Would also have avoided me hating him for so many years. (We eventually made up and became best friends)

 

I’m very proud of my sons who grew up without corporal punishment. No need for it. Ever. 

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Almost all of my grade school teachers were drop outs from the nuns.  Many a time I had my hands feel the beat of a tattoo with a wooden ruler.  No mercy was ever given - waste of time to ask.  I have to say honestly that I do not have fond memories of these ladies.

 

STL Suomi

 

Sometimes they would get your attention by pinching the short hair on the back of you neck and lifting you up smartly.  I solved that by getting a buzz cut. :-)

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12 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

erasers were sometimes thrown at students

Junior high band. Mr. Triplett would occasionally fling a blackboard eraser at someone (usually a drummer or a tuba - back row) to get their attention.

 

 

This has nothing to do with corporal punishment, but it is a good memory of Mr. Triplett. The school had been integrated the year before. We had one black member of the band. A bunch of them were raising hell (not me - I was always well behaved B)) And Mr. Triplett lost it.

 

"Don't none of you know how to act like white people!!"

 

Then he noticed that black face sitting in the front row with the rest of the flutes.

 

"Uhh, except for Sally there."

 

Open mouth, insert foot.

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Jr. High.  The paddle was used fairly often on students. There was one time where the tables were turned.

 

They had a student vs teachers basketball game and when a teacher commited a foul they would receive 1 whack with the paddle from a student. They would get a small girl to swing the paddle and they didn't hit too hard.

 

Mr McCacaron was one who seemed eager to use the paddle on students. He was called for a foul, they pulled a small girl out and he bent over with hands on knees to receive his whack. One of the Moore twin sisters, the biggest kids in school, stepped up grabbed the paddle and swung for the fences. Mr. McCacaron rocketed forward running and stumbling doing everything but falling down.

 

He was a PE teacher and would throw footballs and basketballs at us while making us do pushups. We were happy to leave jr. High and get to the high school. Sure enough, we get to 9th grade at the high school and there he is. He transferred there.

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7th or 8th grade math, I don't remember which.  Mr. Goodman had just got out of his mouth: the next person who throws a piece of chalk goes to the (principal's) office when a piece of chalk landed in my lap.  From the trajectory, I figured out where it came from and flung it back.  Charles Beckler ratted me out:  Mr. Goodman, Bobbie Marie just hit me upside the head with a piece of chalk.  Mr. Goodman glared at me and pointed at the door.  I went.  "Miss Key, why are you here?"  "I hit Charles Beckler upside the head with a piece of chalk."  "Really?  Upside the head?"  "Yessir."  I could tell it was all he could do to keep from laughing.  He asked why that was an Office Offense & I acknowledged that chalk-throwing had become a "thing" and Mr. Goodman often could not find a piece of chalk if he wanted to illustrate something on the board.  He sent me back to class with the admonishment not to upset Mr. Goodman any further.  GOOD PITCH was still written all over his face.  Back in class, everybody wanted to know what happened.  I just smiled, knowing I was golden.

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This topic is a great read. Brings back a ton of memories. And a couple of questions. Reckon how many high school kids now have ever passed a note? Sometimes folded in certain ways? Or have ever had war with chalk erasers. 

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