Were you ever caned at school?

Corporal punishment (spanking with a paddle, like a ping-pong paddle) was allowed and legal in the schools in my state until about 1968ish? Something like that.

I was never paddled. I was an outstanding student all through school. Got awards. I loved school.
 
I went to a Southern Baptist high school and the big, huge coach was the one who did the paddling in the principal's office. He had a paddle with holes in it so it would create welts. I was paddled once for misbehaving in class and never went down that road again. It was a private school so I guess they could do whatever they wanted.

My dad whipped me with his belt a couple of times when I misbehaved. Since I grew up in the South, there were also "switches" taken from tree limbs that would cause serious pain to the legs.
 

I think I mentioned this before on another site. We had the sisters of Mercy - loved to cane the children and showed no mercy. Weapon of choice, a long bamboo cane similar to the feather duster type. I often came home with welts on my calves. I got them for not being naughty but for a small spelling mistake.
 
As I already mentioned in my small town in Colorado our grade allowed punishment, except only the principal decided who got the paddle and who did not. If you got sent to the office, you knew you were at risk of getting the paddle. He seemed like a fair man, but you really never knew for sure...

Looking back this method assured that a student would never get hit by a teacher in anger. That's important in schools and at home...
 
oldman said:
I saw 2 men in Singapore get caned. I thought that had to hurt like nothing else I ever though about. It seemed more like torture.
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if it's a punishment over the bare back..then that's very painful. On the isle of Man ( British island).. the Birch was used as a punishment until relatively recently.. since they stopped using it Crime has risen exponentially..

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT: BIRCHING IN THE ISLE OF MAN
 
In Singapore, when they cane someone one punishment for doing something that is unlawful, it may be done so the public can watch. Their theory is that by watching what can happen if someone breaks the law, it can deter crime.
 
They offered ballet classes at our elementary school. My mother enrolled me when I was 6 years old. I hated it. The ballet teacher was an ex ballerina. She was mean, she would come to class with her husband and a very large dog that was as mean as she was. She would slap us if we made an error. I was petrified to go there. My mother did not want to hear about it and made me take the classes until I was 11. At that time, the teacher slapped me on the leg so hard that her five fingers left a mark on my skin. I showed it to my mother that night and she finally agreed to take me out of the class.
Interestingly, as much as I did not want to be a dancer there, I did go back to dancing as a young adult. I also enjoy going to a ballet performance.
 
The worst swats I ever received were from our middle school gym teacher. He would torment you first by telling you "after class" you would get your swats. Then he would debate if you should get an A, B, or C level, and how many. All this out loud during gym class in front of the other kids, he would make kids cry before they got to the swats.
 
No I wasn't
there was one 'old school' class teacher who hit kids hands with a ruler sometimes, and kids could get sent to principals office and caned for severe misdemeanours ( not sure with what as never happened to me)

Illegal now throughout Australia as Warrigal mentioned
 
January said:
No I wasn't
there was one 'old school' class teacher who hit kids hands with a ruler sometimes, and kids could get sent to principals office and caned for severe misdemeanours ( not sure with what as never happened to me)

Illegal now throughout Australia as Warrigal mentioned
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I went to a prestigious (read pretentious, think English public school) private school in NZ, and corporal punishment was very real in 60's & 70's.
I got caned so many times I can't remember, of course it hurt, but not a single phoque was given. In those days sanctioned corporal punishment was administered by the Prefects, I got a few of them too. The severity was graduated 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 strokes of the cane, it was cane of about half an inch diameter. For some reason I have no recollection of anyone ever getting 5 strokes. Some practitioners could draw blood on occasions. Chamois leather inside the pants helped soften the blows but you had to know in advance that you were getting a caning.
 
Rose65 said:
What was life like at a convent school? I only ask out of curiosity, as it always seems nuns were not that nice. Were yours good teachers?
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My school was Roman Catholic, run by the priests of The Society of St. Vincent DePaul. They were known as, Vincentian Fathers.
We were taught that God is love and just to make sure we got the message it was enforced with the liberal use of a big, thick and long, leather strap.
The thought of holding out your hand to be whacked by that heavy duty piece of leather provided a powerful reason to tow the line in the 1950's school. Getting flogged by the strap was the common form of punishment during my school days. Today it would be deemed a violent practice and is illegal, but back then students had more respect (fear) when they understood what the physical consequences of misbehaviour would be.
 
horseless carriage said:
but back then students had more respect (fear) when they understood what the physical consequences of misbehaviour would be.
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They had more fear but I disagree they had more respect.

D o the posters on here who said they were caned sound like they respected the teachers who did it?

Not to me they don't.

and did children get to love learning and become more literate or acheive more? - Not likely.

Rossanna's post above is good example of just the opposite- a child who liked dancing and wanted to learn it but then hated it because of a violent teacher
 

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