Anyone been smacked in front of the class at school?

When I was at school it was not unusual for misbehaving kids to be summoned to the front of the class and given a few smacks on the behind with a hand or a slipper. Anyone else had this experience?

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Sharon · F

Yes, frequently. Any day nobody got the the slipper would have been unusual. I was hand spanked in infants' school but from juniors' through to 6th form it was the slipper. Usually we got 2 or 3 not very hard smacks but could get 6 real stingers - even more in PE.

jackcros · 70-79, M

Sharon, sounds like you were at my school. although you would have been very conspicuous as it was all boys! Seriously, many schools I knew had similar practices

Sharon · F

I've heard the same about many schools. The slipper was a relatively minor punishment most of the time (just a couple of smacks) but had the potential to be a more serious one.

MartinII · 70-79, M

@Sharon: A couple of smacks with a slipper seems an ideal way to deal with minor classroom misdemeanours.

Sharon · F

@MartinII: I agree, it was. I'm not so sure it would be appropriate nowadays though.

jackcros · 70-79, M

@Sharon: They call that progress! Much better to suspend kids indefinitely; fill them with drugs or let them stab each other. (Fully paid up member of the grumpy old men's club

Sharon · F

@jackcros: What it comes down to is that modern, power crazed, headteachers just can't be trusted to simply get on with the job they're paid to do - educate their students.

jackcros · 70-79, M

@Sharon: Far too busy getting control of a network of schools and getting salaries of £250k+

Sharon · F

@jackcros: Their primary objective is to strut around like petty dictators. They see their students and, increasingly nowadays, students' parents as just creatures they can bully to boost their already over-inflated ego.

jackcros · 70-79, M

@Sharon: Not having children I only see schools from a distance, but what you say doesn't surprise me

Sharon · F

@jackcros: There are often news reports of children being excluded from school for some stupid reason such as their shoes not being bought from the school's "official supplier". I've even heard of parents being fined for keeping their children off school to attend a family funeral. Of course, the stories that reach the news represent only a tiny fraction of the incidents that occur.

jackcros · 70-79, M

When I was 9 my parents wanted to take me out of school for a fortnight to take our first holiday abroad - in Belgium. The Head was all in favour, thought I'd learn more there than in school - a realist.Now it's all a system with no thought.

Sharon · F

@jackcros: I'm not so sure there's no thought involved. I think they've just hit on another opportunity to extort money from parents, just like forcing them to pay extortionate amounts for school uniforms.

Modern schools are all about satisfying headteachers' pathological need to exert control over others, nothing to do with education.