Ban on corporal punishment towards children

It ought to be mentioned that manhandling or more often womanhandling was common even in schools that spared the cane/slipper or whatever the favoured weapon of the era.

Also shouting and throwing the blackboard rubber without due concern about where it landed, and the old favourites of many teachers; sarcasm and ridicule.

paddyann54

I went to an all girls convent schoolmaddy and some nuns. Could be vicious with the tawse ..a heavy leather belt with one end that had two straps .It was used in all Scottish schools that I know of until I left in 1969.Thankfully I was never victim to it ,the one and only time I was smacked I was about two and a half and my sister who had learned the F word in the playground taught it to me .Unfortunately I repeated it at the dinner table and an auntie kept asking me to say it again …which I did and she brought it my dads attention.He took me to my room and smacked me ..then he sat beside me on the bed and cried with me.I have always remembered it vividly .
He was such a gentle man and he never lifted a finger to any of us before or after that day I never swore again either even now the family know not to swear in my home

Paddyann when I was at school ‘ going round the class* was quite common, more with some teachers than others.
I particularly remember in P3 ( I was 7), our teacher did it because the class was noisy when she came in. We went out one by one to receive a slap with the Lochgelly.
It was mostly accepted by parents, with the exception of one wee mammy who took exception to the sewing teacher belting her daughter for unsatisfactory needlework. She went to the school, assaulted the teacher, and ended up in court ( as well as becoming a heroine in the eyes of the children!)

In my primary school we were given the tawse and again it was for getting a maths question wrong or not being quick enough.

In secondary school I received 5 on each hand for saying de instead of du. The man used his entire weight and I was in tears.

I was a good child but I was not allowed an opinion so I received smacks across my face, ears and head. Heaven knows what I did because a few times my knickers were lowered and either a hand or a leather strap hit me several times on my rear end. This was when I was in my teens!

I was never hugged and if I was loved my parents had a funny way of showing it. I loved it when I went to a Catholic boarding school where there was no corporal punishment.

My middle class upbringing was one reason why I did not have children.

I can remember a teacher known for his brutal behaviour and bullying meeting his match when the boy's father stotmed into a classroom and flattened the teacher in front of the entire class. There was a court case like with Daddima, the fathee was fined and the son had to leave school early, but somehow it must have been very satisfying for father and son to see the teacher lying on the ground.