Methods of "discipline" in infant school, in 1980s

[letsgomaths]

Although I mostly have fond memories of infant school, I remember very vividly methods which were used for keeping order among children in the 1980's, and I'm curious about how much they're used these days (I don't have any DC's of infant school age). There was no corporal punishment at any schools I went to, although it was frequently mentioned ("If I had my way with all these naughty children..."), sometimes with wistful overtones.

Things I remember most:
Humiliation was a common tool; there was a lot of telling off in front of the class, or even the whole school, usually for minor offences such as talking or fidgeting. Some naughty children were made to stand on tables. (However, more serious things like bullying/lying/stealing were dealt with more privately.)

Woe betide any child who moved their feet at all after the bell was rung for the end of playtime, especially if one particular teacher was on playground duty. Any offender would have to make a walk of shame across the playground, and then "miss their next play" (which would involve sitting in an area where everyone would see you).

With some teachers, one of the most heinous crimes children could commit was doing something without being told. I fell foul of this a few times, if I started packing away when I knew it would be time to do so ("Did I say pack away?!?!"). And here was one particular scene, but I wasn't among the guilty this time: during a handwriting lesson, the teacher (fearsome deputy head) wrote "kitten" on the board, and more than half the class wrote it in their exercise books. The teacher then walked round the classroom, picking up people's books and throwing them on the floor. These people were then ordered to fetch their books and hold them up in front of everyone else; these children had dared to write "kitten" when they hadn't actually been told to.

I daresay methods like these were effective in a way; usually the teachers had no difficulty keeping a hundred children quiet, and for all I know teachers of today wish they could do the same things. But I'm sure that teaching children that it's a bad thing to take action without being told had a few unintended consequences!

Discuss. (You have my permission! )

We had the meter ruler whacked on the desk if we were talking.
Ruler rapped on our knuckles
Made to stand on our chairs in the lunch hall if we spoke
Made to stand in the corner of the class or playground if naughty
This was a catholic junior school 70/80s

I was also made to drink full fat, horrid, creamy milk every day despite being sick after it for 3 years.

Fascinating reading, thanks everybody!

I'm sure we all have various things to say about whether these are good things or not, good preparations for real life and all that, but the thing that I really noticed at primary school was this "never do anything without being told" rule. One of my "issues" as a young adult was that I found it very hard to be spontaneous, and to do anything completely new, in case it was "wrong". I think my school had a bit to answer for there!

I remember another primary school teacher who had tended to name and shame those who asked "silly questions", which I think was a terrible thing to do.

wow some awful things posted on here, thank god we don't hear about it happening anymore. I know my Dh's school had a pump which was used on the children's bottoms at the front of the hall during assemblies, as for my school I don't really remember anything like that but then again I spent most of my head down because if I was naughty the fear of my parents would out-way any form of discipline the school could dish out. As far as I see it, I don't physically or mentally abuse my Dc so its a bloody good job that nobody else does!

Primary from early 80s, three schools, classes of between 33 and 36 pupils, no teaching assistants that can remember. No corporal punishment, but hands on heads / stand facing wall (have some funny memories of those).

On "never do anything without being told", we had workbooks with pages stapled together so once you'd finished the exercise set you couldn't carry on to the next one or check your answers from the back, you had to sit quietly. I once broke the staples, marked the answers and went onto the next chapter, and got a bollocking in front of the class for "cheating".

Lots of humiliation. Certain children seemed to be singled out the most for different reasons.

The class teachers ruled. Senior staff rarely came in, few support staff.

Had lots of lovely teachers, but two horrible ones stand out. One (when was 8/9) disliked me and made it clear, eg "you think you're so clever" in front of the class, commenting gloatingly to the class when I made mistakes, sitting me next to a group of girls who disliked me, selecting me for things like quizzes with other schools but then coming up with reasons why I couldn't do it after all and had to watch others. Weird stuff, just knew she had it in for me and felt scared a lot, but could never understand or verbalise it to tell someone what was happening.

The other, when was 11 or 12, was disliked by everyone, he called boys stuff like "waste of space", "plank" and picked on certain boys really badly. He once stroked my cheek in a way that made me shiver. Urgh.

It sounds awful! But most teachers were v nice.

Welsh rural primary in the 1980s.
I hate mental arithmetic to this day because the head used to take us for really intimidating sessions where he marched around the class firing off questions whilst tapping his cane in his hand. We knew he wasn't allowed to use it but it was still scary. He once threw a board rubber at someone who got a question wrong and a ruler over the knuckles was not uncommon.

Humiliation was also very common. I cringe at the memory of the PE teacher doing a mincing impression of my feeble over arm throwing technique and encouraging the class to laugh at me.

Also the horrible dinner lady who stood over me forcing me to eat a plateful of horrid processed peas until I literally vomited.

All this I accepted as normal and had largely forgotten. It was meted out fairly evenly to everyone. I think if I'd felt singled out that would have been worse. That said I am so glad things are different now.
I would literally maim anyone who did this stuff to DD

English CofE Primary 1975-1981
Humiliation, threat of the slipper (boys only) by the Headmaster but don't recall him ever using it. He came across as stern but was in fact a pussycat.
One teacher seriously humiliated one girl & I've actually no idea why? She taped her mouth shut & made her stand on the table for the whole morning. At lunch time she refused to allo this girl to go to lunch & instead tied her to the coat rails. The same punishment happened all afternoon & I recall being so angry but not having a clue how to stop the teacher. Later found out she was having an affair with the deputy head, but I digress. Lunchtimes were unpleasant if you didn't like the food. One dinner lady lived opposite me & helped me pit if I didn't like certain foods by not giving them to me in the first place. One time when she either was away or not serving, we were given turkey with stuffing. I hated the stuffing yet was forced to eat it. Was never forced to eat stuffing again though after I threw up on the member of staff who told me I would "sit there till all the food was finished."

A friend went to a private all girls catholic school & was regularly caned in class. She said the nuns were brutal and was grateful when her parents ran out of money & she ad to leave.

All in all my primary school was good. It must be as these Rae the only incidents I can recall.