jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

You haven't read enough comments on this forum.

Stephan G

I had one teacher who was very ingenious in providing punishments. She had the miscreant kneel at the side of the classroom, holding out a geography book in each outstretched hands for just about the entire hour of class. She got me only once. I explain this as to the reason why my knuckles still touch the ground.

DickC Loc: NE Washington state

I was their age then, I would have been about 8 or 9, not being Catholic we didn't dress like that but we did adhere to our teachers words and etiquette or we could get spanked!! Teacher do that now and all hell would break loose!

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I must say, I felt sorrow for those who suffered abuse, at whoever's hand it was dealt. Childhood should be a time of joy, and learning should be a great part of that joy. It's memories should not be those of fear and loathing.

bodiebill

Discipline requires some level of punishment when the individual willingly breaks the rules/laws.
Just look at the street anarchy today where even arson, theft, violent physical damage, etc. is left unpunished.
Theft has morphed into "shop lifting" with a minimal $ value and gone unpunished.
"Defund the Police" has been a cover for criminal arson. and physical destruction without consequences.
It all begins with "molly-coddling" of the individual who breaks the law and rules of society.
Evil does exist in the world

SteveR Loc: Michigan

My Dad taught and coached in the public schools for over 40 years. During the war and afterwards he was involved in physical conditioning, at one point getting drill instructors into shape. At no point did he have to use physical force on a student. My Dad loved working with youth. He also believed in rules. He believed in the so much so that as A.D. of the high school he reported the football team to the state when it was learned that a player had inadvertently played when he was academically ineligible. The player was not a consequential player and Dad could have let it slide when the coach found out and brought it to Dad's attention. As a result, all games that he played in were forfeited. As a coach, if you missed practice without a valid reason, you were off the team. This applied to 8 year old baseball players who went swimming instead of coming to practice. I was shocked, but the two kids involved took their punishment. One of them later went on to pitch for a championship team....without skipping practice!!! Dad always appealed to the inner conscience of the individuals. He always tried to inspire them as well. One time a number of football jerseys went missing from the storage room. Dad would see students wearing them around the hallway. Instead of walking them down to the office and getting them suspended, or whatever, for theft, Dad appealed to their inner nature and asked them if they didn't know it was wrong to take and wear those jerseys. He told them that he would like them to turn them into his office. The students had so much respect for him that they all did. If you knew my Dad you would understand. He was a special guy. So, discipline does not require grabbing a kid by the ear and marching him down the hall in fear. On the other hand, some things must be dealt with seriously. There was a time when a bathroom was lit on fire near the athletic area and cost $65,000 to repair...back in the 70's Later, Dad checked on one of the boy's bathrooms in the athletic area and found a kid lighting a paper towel. He called the police. The police didn't want to do anything because it was just a paper towel, worth maybe a penny. Dad insisted and he was charged with a minor offense. The kid was dealt with fairly, BUT, he was never abused. Now, when I was in grades 1-3, there was the fear of the paddle, and I got it once. But, it was a broad paddle, administered three times to the posterior, and nothing to cause a hearty boy to cry. It was also administered by a different teacher than the student's teacher to eliminate the possibility of anger. The paddle as used in this way was a form of discipline that did not reach the level of abuse. Abuse is never necessary. Now I have seen student on teacher violence in the schools. That should be dealt with sternly with assault charges and teachers should be able to defend themselves.

bodiebill

My high school football/track coach was like your Dad.
His punishment was extended workouts that benefited the player with added strength and endurance.
Several of us played "hookey" and went to the local vaudeville/strip-tease show. While we were in line at the box office our coach just happened to come up the street from the Honus Wagner Sporting Goods Store. He calmly walked by and said "see you boys at practice". That definitely ruined our day. At the end of practice he called out our names to remain on the field. We did "wind sprints until we nearly collapsed---just punishment

SteveR Loc: Michigan

I'll bet the look on your faces lived on in his memory. You can believe he and his fellow coaches got a big laugh out of that.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Great story!

ronf78155 Loc: Seguin Texas

I remember having to lay my hands on the desk and Sister Bonnie swatting both hand with her yard stick.
It took everything I had not to cry in front of my classmates.......so she did it a second time and I cried!
All because I gave a girl named Candy a kiss

RiJoRi Loc: Sandy Ridge, NC

When I was in 6th grade, a 5th-grader got sent home for wearing blue jeans. 😲 Horrors! Thinking about it, I wonder if it gave the message that how you dress is more important than learning. But that was over half a century ago.

We had a boy in my 9th (?) grade science class who was a cut-up. He told me he had been in parochial school previously. I figgered that he was making up for lost time. 🥳

As to gym class, it was rumored that one boy got in trouble, and the coach offered him a choice of punishment: get hit with a sneaker, or with a toothbrush. Kid chose the toothbrush. Coach held the head of the brush against the kid's butt, pulled back on the handle, and let fly. Yeee-ow! Remember - this was just a rumor.

--Rich

Al Vocinq Loc: The wilds of upstate New York

I grew up in a military family, we moved almost every year. We had moved to Georgia when I started first grade in 1963. I'll never forget my first day, learning that I couldn't sit next to my new best friend on the school bus--he had to sit in the back, and I couldn't. After school, when I tearfully, angrily, asked my parents why, all they could say was that was the law and right or wrong we had to follow it. I eventually became a civil rights lawyer and wish I could say we have evolved past that. I personally have no desire to return to the racist, misogynist, bigoted "good old days." I don't want to make America white again. But that's just my 2 cents.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

What school did you go to? My regular school clothes in elementary school were jeans, a white t-shirt, and these awful black clodhopprer shoes that my parents made me wear that we got at Stapps. No wearing sneakers to school in those days.

RiJoRi Loc: Sandy Ridge, NC

I went to Harding Ave. Elementary School in Lindenhurst, NY. I really don't remember the footwear, but sneakers were for gym. I guess we carried them with us on those days?

Our shoes were bought at "Shoe King Sam's" - a shoe store in Amityville. Department stores such as White's, TSS, and Korvettes' were too far, too expensive, and/or had a smaller selection. Walmart and Target were still in the future.

--Rich

SteveR Loc: Michigan

One thing about jeans. You could wear the same pair for a week!!!