nicelifter Loc: erie,pa

hope you didnt give up on GOD too

OldIkon Loc: Indiana, USA

I believe you intend "corporal punishment", not "capital". While they may have wanted some students to "meet their maker", I'm sure executions were infrequent.

We look back and admit/confess that the punishments meted out were excessive to abusive in many cases - and damaged both the students and their relationship with both Jesus and the Church. I went to public schools and only have heard the stories about Catholic discipline. We still had corporal punishment and the vice-principal and his paddle were feared. He also developed relationships with some of the "troubled" students that I suspect was beneficial to the students in the end.

It appears the reaction of those who were disciplined in parochial schools has been to completely invert the order to more disastrous consequences. The statistics (and stories) of students abusing and assaulting teachers is appalling. Even at the height of racial tensions in the mid-70's the students in my schools maintained some respect of teachers and overt talking back or assault would be rare. Now kids know that they have the upper hand and school discipline has suffered for it. It does not benefit the kids or the schools.

Leo Perez

Reminds me of the Blues Brothers, the Nun talking the ruler to them. I remember during the basketball season we would play St. Mary’s school. For a long time I thought it was a juvenile school. Most of the boy had cauliflower ears.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

I certainly hope those days are gone. If that had been my child, he’d have been in jail that night. Makes me angry just to hear it...

Stephan G

A class in Psychology will provide many insights as to memories. Environments were as varied as the students and the teachers in the classrooms. It is no different now, although sometimes the evils done may have mutated some.

I graduated First Grade in France. Then the family emigrated to the USA. My father had to fight hard for me to be placed in Second Grade. The holdback issue was that I did not know nor speak English. My dad stated that I spoke several other languages, especially fluent Ukrainian. He stated that if I had any needs, there were more than enough teachers who spoke Ukrainian to get my message across. I went to a Ukrainian school in Chicago back 1955-62. First day in class, I sat down near the front of the room (very similar to that in the above shots). The teacher came in, told us to sit in our seats (both in English and Ukrainian.) I looked around me and noticed that I was the only one to have a pen and nib with me. All of the others had those stubby pencils. I, of course, raised my hand and was recognized. I asked as to when we would get our ink-wells filled with ink. I admitted, when asked, that we in France wrote with pen and ink in First Grade. There were other regimes that I found to be advanced, such as mathematics. Were it not for my lack in English, I would have placed in a more advanced class. Guess who had to check the class's tests involving mathematics, for the rest of the year. And a couple of years after that. It took me two years to become fluent in English.

From my observations, there were, and still are, wide arcs of good and bad.

As for the worst in terms of public schools? I sold books to libraries in schools. I visited a public high school in Tennessee back in the mid 1980s. I walked into the library of the school and noticed that there were no hard covered books in the book racks. The ones that I did observe were the "trade" books, the so-called coffee table top books. The ones that were oversized and with pictures. The rest of the "books" were magazines. When I asked the librarian about that, he informed me that a majority of the students bail out after hitting junior year. The school board decided to cut the funds to where they just had enough for magazine subscription costs.

As for my teachers in grade school, I had brilliant people for the most part as my teachers. They were very world-experienced. One even shared her experience in a Gulag when she was arrested as a political radical (in former USSR). There were a few who were "normal". Bottom line, regardless of which school, is that it does involve parents, teachers and others for students to develop a desire for knowledge and the follow-through.

I miss my educators, all the way through University.

Dannj

My parochial school classrooms were very much like this one except they were mixed for all eight years. I do remember a few instances of physical punishment, which is unwarranted under any circumstances, but my overall experience was positive.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Sounds like the gym teacher from Hell. I'm not sure where you went to school, but I never came across anybody like this in all my years of schooling. The teachers that I encountered from elementary through high school genuinely had the best interests of their students at heart. I don't know what department head would hire this jerk.

ronf78155 Loc: Seguin Texas

Yes I have memories......memories of Sister Carmen beating us with a yardstick !

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I was lucky to have no teachers I would complain about. I guess not everyone can say that.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

So the baseball bat was broken?

bodiebill

We did not wear uniforms at our Pittsburgh Public Schools but were expected to be respectful, tolerant, inquisitive with a desire to learn, be loyal and patriotic.
Pittsburgh was a very mixed ethnic society. The blacks at my school were good people with a great desire to improve their life. Welfare was rare, generally not from the Federal Govt, but from local institutions and Churches. The concept was that we took care of our own.
The "Great Society" concept from the Federal Govt changed all of this, which in my opinion began the deterioration of society. No-fault divorce from California, and drug acceptance rapidly added to the deterioration. Free love destroyed the moral fabric of society in the 1960's. The Viet Nam War further destroyed our standards.
Inflation, prosperity, consumerism and Mothers out of the home working for material wealth compounded the demise.
I was a child of the depression and WW2--forged in the fire of strong moral principles, pride of my ancestors, and history of the United States with minimal Government control of our lives.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Yes, that is now considered child abuse and assault on a minor. I thought so in the 1960s, and still think so now. What sane adult thinks that will shape behavior? What sane leader thinks fear of physical harm is a good motivator in a school setting? It might work, but it doesn't inspire real willingness to follow. Real teachers lead with WHYs, not DON'Ts or CAN'Ts. They lead with fun, and inclusion, and mutual respect, not terror. It's gym class, not a torture pit in a prison.

I remember our gym coach proudly wielding his "butt cutter" — a long paddle with 1" holes drilled every couple of inches up and down its length. When he died of a heart attack at 44, I said, "Karma is a b*tch. And he was the sick b*tard who had it coming!" He was the cruel head coach who worked a football player so hard he died in the summer heat of pre-season practice.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

👍👍 Absolutely right. As I said earlier, if it had been my child, i’d be calling the police and swearing out a warrant. Could have been deadly. Such people have no place in education.

tommystrat Loc: Bigfork, Montana

I vividly remember my parochial school days, and am thankful for the superior academic education I received. As for the nuns, well, that's what therapy is for...

fantom Loc: Colorado

name one