School corporal punishment memories 1980s

[Cati79]

I remember when I first started year one in Manchester in 1985 I was terrified of getting into trouble. Most of my teachers were actually really nice. I only remember seeing 2 canings in my entire schooling life and the worst physical punishment I ever recieved was a couple of taps with the ruler on the knuckles in 2nd and 4th grade for not paying attention in class. I understand nowadays that this would be considered taboo but it certainly did me no harm and I always remember children actually respecting these sorts of teachers who were strict but fair. I told my dd whose in year 4 about the ruler story and she was horrified but said some of the kids in her class probably could use the ruler every now and then lol. What was your schooling life like back then from the 1980s- till now?

My DDad was at school in the 60's-early 70's and remembers a "maths master" who had a cane on his desk called Mr. Whippy, "he doesn't make ice cream, he makes you scream". Dad never personally got to know Mr. Whippy, but both he and DMum got plimsolls/slippers/rulers to the palm of the hand.
DDad also remembers being made to stand and hold heavy objects out in front of you like a medicine ball or something.
I started school in the early 90's and obviously never had any of this. We had a couple of teachers in Primary who still threw chalk, or the odd board rubber (though those never hit you). And I do remember one right cow of a supply teacher (long term) who would hurt one of the boys in our class. She would grab him hard enough to leave marks and shake him, or slam his chair in to the desk with him sitting on it. We were in yr5 and had no idea how to deal with what we were seeing!

Have reported you Cati. I'm sure you won't mind if you're legit Just seems like an odd choice of first post.

My mum was diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult, a male teacher made her life hell in secondary school between caning and hitting her over the head with books. Many years later he was subject to an abuse enquiry and it wasn't for hitting either.

I was at primary school in the 70s and secondary school in the early 80s so I grew up accepting the fact of corporal punishment as the norm, but never really seeing anything.

I went to a couple of primary schools and don't think it was ever used. At secondary school, one of the teachers used to throw a board rubber at children for talking - he was known to be strict, but I don't remember anyone being scared. You just know that he wasn't somebody to mess about with.

Canings never happened publicly. I think you used to get sent to the Head or another senior teacher. I do remember thinking that the cane wasn't effective because the well behaved children would have been well behaved anyway, and the same few boys seemed to keep getting the cane so it obviously didn't do anything to change their behaviour.

My dad taught in boys secondary schools in the fifties and sixties and was in charge of the cane.
At primary in the late seventies, children in my school were hit with a ruler, over the head with a hard register and had blackboard rubbers thrown at them

Not allowed when I was a school! London, 1980s.

It wasn't unusual to get the slipper or cane or a blackboard rubber in your face.

Hello OP.

My childhood consisted of corporal punishment from being 6 to leaving at 14.
I left school with no qualifications and in my thirties finally saw an ed psych for a diagnosis of dyslexia, dyspraxia, and lots of other problems too long to list.
They used to hit me when I got it wrong and when I stuttered they humiliated me. I was called every unacceptable word there is.
I still have nightmares and have told all our children about it, they believe it was barbaric.
I am so ill at ease at School events and dread parents evening which happens to be several times a year atm.
Hey, shouldn't moan , the teachers are lovely, though.
I can not stand having to think about it and have coped with a living nightmare throughout my life.
How could they do this?
It's never right to hit a child.

I started school in 1948 and never experienced or saw corporal punishment in my all girls' schools (state) though I believe the boys suffered. I was never smacked at home either.

I'm older (had left school in the 80s) but never witnessed corporal punishment during my time in primary or grammar school.

Started school in 76, I was aware that the cane happened but never saw it myself. Secondary was the slipper, 1980's, again aware but never saw it. It was usually the same ones who seemed to get it and I don't think it had much effect. Dad, at school in 1950's remembers getting ruler across palm.

DS primary school is on the whole well behaved so I don't think it would be necessary and I'm not sure of the efficacy anyway. Most teachers back in day relied on voice and presence to keep order.

One of the secondary schools around here is horrendous though for assaults against teachers and pupils. We are moving to avoid it. I think you'd need a police presence for that one not corporal punishment!

I had the cane, slipper, hand etc many many times in the 1970s, backside and hands.
I usually (always?) deserved it.
I was always getting into some sort of mischief and I knew their would be consequences if I were caught.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

However, I am glad it has been banned. It had its time and place but times change.

Although if I were a teacher I would bring it back ;-)

Just remembered, the first time I had the strap I was at infant school (4?).

I had punched someone though.....

I was at primary school from 1985 - 1992.

Witnessed plenty of slapped hands and legs, hitting across hands with rulers, blackboard rubbers being lobbed at children and hideous mental abuse, teachers telling kids they were stupid and screaming until they were red in the face and making children utterly miserable.

I still don't like teachers. Not really.

I suppose the difference for me was that I was being punished for misbehaving not for getting school work wrong or not being able to learn something.

I met one of those teachers later in life at a reunion. I took the mickey out of him mercilessly for his behaviour but bore him no animosity.

Oh, yes! I forgot about being smacked on the head with a register.

The rage I feel when I picture these teacher's smug faces and rubbing their hands with glee at all of the children they tore apart is absurd. Horrid, horrid people.

If I bumped into one now I'd let rip.

Started school in 1983... Zero corporal punishment, zero verbal abuse... One teacher did used to throw chalk but not AT children. Lovely school where I always felt safe. Secondary school was less of an enjoyable experience but that was because of some of the kids, not the teachers.

I started school in 1985.

I don't think caning was allowed then? Certainly I never saw any corporal punishment for any of my school years.

The problem was though once a teacher had the right to smack, cane, slipper, verbally abuse, and any other manner of punishments it was at their discretion when they used this.
Even if it was just the naughty ones who were punished, they could have had any number of behavioural problems, that obviously weren't even recognised then let alone diagnosed.
Nobody will ever convince me that corporal punishment was acceptable, whatever the reason.
My schooling was officially completed in 1982 but I didn't stick around after 1980, the abuse became too much.

I still don't like teachers. Not really.

That's a shame to decide you don't like an entire profession of thousands of people based on a memory of the actions of a few from many years ago.

Naively perhaps, I never realised that people would approach a member of my profession with a pre-judgement of not liking them before even having met them.

Do you have the same dislike of any other group of people, based on their job or any other identifying feature?

Late 70s and into early 80s in a boarding school we had cane for really serous offences, slipper for lesser offences. I had my head banged against a wall by a teacher in year 7. Teachers routinely threw board rubbers and chalk.

Prefects (boys in 6th form) were banned from hitting boys with anything just before I arrived in school but informally kicking and punching was pretty common and pretty brutal.

People got lines to write out in detention as the main form of punishment. If you got too much detention you got a report card that had to be signed off every 40 minutes for a week. Three failures and you got another. Three report cards and you got the cane.

I was Head of School and gave out a total of 1 hour of detention in a whole year (the least ever) and I never hit any boy or shouted at them. I just thought it totally wrong and not unnecessary. Boys knew I could punish them but a quiet word, some litter picking for stupidity and then a game of football to divert their attention to better things was a better way in my view.

I get a lot more exasperated with my children though, but I just don't agree with punishments in general. Taking their phones off them for an afternoon is enough. They fear social death if they are not on social media.

Iguana

I don't dislike teachers and I bet I had the cane more than anyone on here

Its pupils like me that make me glad I'm not one

Thanks helpful !

Honestly, when I was at school there were teachers I liked and some I didn't. And now I have some colleagues I like and some I don't care much for. It was the prejudice of disliking thousands of people who happen to have the same job that I find odd.

I'm glad I'm from Holland where corporal punishment in schools was abolished before WW2...