But what did happen to children in the past who were booted out of their state schools but still of compulsory school age?...
I am not really sure. I know they just "disappeared" often. The ones with real problems ( SEN) went to special schools. The ones with serious behavioural issues went to schools for the maladapted ( thats what they were called - its a PRU now) . The other quietly left a 14 quite often. School and LEA turned a blind eye - and often out at work was the best place for them. They did go to work not the dole aswe had jobs back then. The criminal element ended up in Borstal.
I suppose what I am saying is wedidnt have any policy of "inclusion". We had schools to suit all sorts ( which also went along with the policy of selective education.
But what all of that did mean is that even in a rough SM ( like that I attended) you had some chance of learning something without being constantly disrupted.
And anyway, I was under the impression that not all children were booted out of school in the past and that caning a child in front of all the other children in assembly was considered an acceptable way of dealing with the problem
Certainly the cane was available but I have never seen or heard of this public display you speak of. It may have been sometime before but not in my educational lifetime (from 1960 - 1973). The only place I saw that wason TV in the "Billy Bunter" programme orsome comedy show with Jimmy Edwards in it (when I was very small) and it always related to public schools like Eton , not my state school. I can only recall a few boys coming back and saying they had receieved the cane - usually for something very big , like throwing chairs around a classroom or being in a fight in the playground. The threat I guess was enough I think. It was common in my promary school for teachers to hit pupils across the had with a ruler - short sharp slap style. But even that only had to be demonstrated once on one child often.
In short , you didnt get the level of poor behaviour we have now at all. Disruptive bahaviour was most often dealt with by kicking pupils out of the class and making them stand outside the door for the lesson. That seemed to work better than "sin bin" and isolation!
But as I said, therewere fewer such kids in a class. It never seemed to cross out minds to misbehave even when bored silly. Swearing was not acceptable either. Maybe because we didnt see the behaviour in others. Bad behaviour is like a cold, it spreads like wildfire through a school
If someone was sent home or reported to parents ( nophones in most homes so no quick call there!) then often parents would give you a whack when you got in and you were told not to go being cheeky at school and causing trouble for you mum/dad. It was shameful and embarrasing to them to be seen as the one with a naughty boy or girl.
And sorry, but as a parent, I do not consider that particularly acceptable behaviour on the part of the teachers, either.
Well as I said , mostly it didnt happen. But we had the threat. Now there is no threat and there is no shame. The shameless society has arrived and is embraced.
There were other things that affected this too. Like teachers could target lessons to suit. They taught what they wanted and what they thought pupils needed to learn - not the NC. We had extensive streaming. Wer had more sports lessons in SM. There were more practical classes too - metalwork, woodowrk and cookery and needlework took up whole mornings or afternoons. Maths and English took up most of the rest of the time in an SM
(for what that is worth to you knowing). It was very much a "practical education" as the 1944 education act dictated. I cant say about grammar schools, I didnt go to one.
It seems to me the NC, RoSLA Comprehensive schools ( much as I dont like selective schools) bigger schools (size) , and inclusion have caused much of the demise. I dont think its any cheaper either and it certainly has not raised standards ofnumeracy and literacy any (probably the opposite)