I Was Smacked At Primary School

There seems to be a perception that girls received less corporal punishment at school than boys. Having taught in the era when corporal punishment was widespread and having chatted to many people on here, I am not sure that is actually true. However, I am sure there were some schools where boys received corporal punishment and girls did not. Personally I cannot see any reason at all for treating girls more leniently than boys. Girls benefit from firm discipline just as much as their male classmates.

This page is a permanent link to the reply below and its nested replies. See all post replies »

jackcros · 70-79, M

My (distant) recollection of junior school was that boys and girls both had to bend over teacher's knee or a desk, but boys did it more often. While it is a broad generalisation, girls seemed more compliant than boys and the type of mischief boys got up to was more boisterous, noisy and, thus, disruptive and detectable than that of their female contemporaries. It has also often been suggested that girls' social skills developed earlier than those of boys, so girls were smarter at evading detection and at "charming " or even "weeping" their way out of punishment. Of course, the perspective of those sitting at the teacher's desk may have been different from that of a lad at the back of the class.