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lancashirelady50 · 70-79, F
The schools I went to as a child/ teenager had rules, and if we broke the rules we were corrected or disciplined. The punishments given as a consequence of breaking the rules were given to eliminate or reduce those behaviours or attitudes that were seen as harmful to others or ourselves or schools expectations or traditions.
Boys received corporal punishment. - ( so unfair and sexist in those far off days) and girls seemed so less likely to offend we never thought of it as such but accepted it as normal).
My stupid bit of petty school vandalism with another young teenage schoolfriend met with a good telling off in front of the class and a detention of an hour after school where we had to wash off and make good the mess we had made.
How I wish that had been the end of it!
The phone call home to our parents resulted in a typical 1960’s response.... and neither of us damaged school property again.... ( and I still remember that old fashioned lesson that I was given that afternoon by Daddy ) as I no doubt remembered at the time - or for several hours afterwards... in fact everytime I sat down!)
Josie
Boys received corporal punishment. - ( so unfair and sexist in those far off days) and girls seemed so less likely to offend we never thought of it as such but accepted it as normal).
My stupid bit of petty school vandalism with another young teenage schoolfriend met with a good telling off in front of the class and a detention of an hour after school where we had to wash off and make good the mess we had made.
How I wish that had been the end of it!
The phone call home to our parents resulted in a typical 1960’s response.... and neither of us damaged school property again.... ( and I still remember that old fashioned lesson that I was given that afternoon by Daddy ) as I no doubt remembered at the time - or for several hours afterwards... in fact everytime I sat down!)
Josie
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@lancashirelady50 In my school, the teachers (especially the assistant principal and eighth grade teacher) would usually catch the students in the act. She could holler with the best of them. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" rolled across the playground, followed by "Come with me - all of you!" She was tough - none dared disobey her. Then followed phone calls to the parents, who were escorted out to view the damages, then the taking home after a three-day suspension. Don't know what happened at home, but I strongly suspect it was on the order of what you received.
lancashirelady50 · 70-79, F
@MaryJanine gosh! I had forgotten about the temporary exclusions... a cooling down period / recovery from a good hiding period most likely- in some cases (more a punishment to parents if they had to then organise childcare..)
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@lancashirelady50 Some kids treated suspension as a vacation from school, no matter what happened to them before or after. I was afraid of this teacher - until the miniskirts came out. Once she tried to suspend all the seventh and eighth grade girls for wearing short skirts to school, with the exception of three eighth graders (I was one of those three). She spent an entire afternoon measuring each girl's skirt length. If they were above two inches, she made them sit in the back row of the auditorium. I can hear her to this day, "You're not on the beach!" When she was done, she told the weeded-out girls they were suspended until they came back with "a decent length". Well, that lasted one day. Parents were lined up with their daughter the very next morning. The parents told her, in so many words, to "mind her own business" because you couldn't find in the stores what she demanded, that's all they had in the stores, and there wasn't enough material in any hem to let down!
RhondasMum · 61-69, F
Alfred22 ·
@RhondasMum But given the times, was it in fact good for you? How did unspanked friends turnout?
RhondasMum · 61-69, F
@Alfred22 Mixed, probably. We never considered it anything but normal. In fact, I can't think of anybody I knew who was not spanked. Certainly at school, there might have been the odd girl who escaped the slipper, but I doubt any boy went through a year without bending over and very, very few girls.
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
To me, detention was a fancy name for "study hall" - I hated those, too. No, I didn't get detention (thank God) - I was on time, did my work and homework, minded my own business in general. Mom was strict about our behavior in school - especially so after my stepsister kept getting lines or kept after school. She was a chatterbox and talker early on, and the one time she had a teacher who made the student write "I must shut my big mouth" a thousand times. The point was,the student had to stay home until the lines were finished and got no credit for the days missed. Well, when Linda got it, my mother saw her and she, my mom, another classmate and her mother went to see the principal the next morning. The principal was unaware of this punishment. She took one look at the lines, called the teacher in, and said in front of the assemblage, "Since when do you, or anybody else in this school, tell students they have a 'big mouth'?"
That was what my mom objected to. I heard her telling Dad later, "No damn teacher is going to tell MY daughter she has a 'big mouth'!"
That ended that particular punishment in that classroom - but the teacher had it in for my stepsister and her friend for the rest of the year.
That was what my mom objected to. I heard her telling Dad later, "No damn teacher is going to tell MY daughter she has a 'big mouth'!"
That ended that particular punishment in that classroom - but the teacher had it in for my stepsister and her friend for the rest of the year.
helensusanswift · 26-30, F
In our detentions we were not allowed to do homework or anything similar. We had to sit in silence, staring in front of us, just wasting time. As I lived miles from the school, any detention meant a seven mile walk home (no busses out our way), so arrived home hours late, tired and still with homework to do and an angry mother demanding to know what happened. . .
Alfred22 ·
@helensusanswift Your mum would have wanted a _full_ explanation! For sure! For absolutely sure! Was that all that she wanted? Or did perhaps she request that you feel her slipper as a memory-aid?
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@MaryJanine @Eeyore122) - Remember that old commercial where the woman says to the camera, "Jennifer, what a DARLING maternity dress!" And, then, "Oh, you're not."
One kid got into it with a "marching mother" in study hall one day, and when she temporarily left the room, the kid looked around and said, "Where's the little big mouth in the maternity dress?"
I almost choked.He continued, "I'm gonna go right by her and say 'Oh, you're not' on my way out."
Don't remember if he followed through, but he was always good for a laugh.
One kid got into it with a "marching mother" in study hall one day, and when she temporarily left the room, the kid looked around and said, "Where's the little big mouth in the maternity dress?"
I almost choked.He continued, "I'm gonna go right by her and say 'Oh, you're not' on my way out."
Don't remember if he followed through, but he was always good for a laugh.
Eeyore122 · 36-40, F
@MaryJanine I do not
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@Eeyore122 I remember you're a teacher and these things are hateful to you as an adult. But this was the usual teenage silliness when I was fourteen and fifteen. I believe you when you say you do not. You've grown up into my friend (and Robin's, too.)
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
Despite the idea of detention and the effort of teachers to make kids do homework or classwork, most of the kids ended up sleeping with their heads on the desks. I was never sentenced to full-blown detention (thank God for small favors) but I went through a few of those classic "Penalty" issuances. It didn't matter if it were only certain kids or a few idiots - we ALL had to do it in addition to our regular homework at home and have it to hand in in the morning. I'm willing to bet the teachers never read these things, so it was a waste of time and paper.
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
In every generation. We used to have "Student Government Day" in our high school, and every class (the adminstrators,too) would select an "A" or "B" student to be the teacher for the day. In our biology class, Mrs. Pryor made her choice a few days before and she took his seat in class, then pushed her books aside and put her head down in her arms. The kids began to giggle.
The serious student who was teaching the class went along until he started to call on students. He looked over at his desk, where Mrs. Pryor didn't move. He said, "Edna?"
Mrs. Pryor raised her head, smiled sweetly and said, "I didn't do the homework."
The kids exploded in laughter - even the student "teacher" did, too.
The serious student who was teaching the class went along until he started to call on students. He looked over at his desk, where Mrs. Pryor didn't move. He said, "Edna?"
Mrs. Pryor raised her head, smiled sweetly and said, "I didn't do the homework."
The kids exploded in laughter - even the student "teacher" did, too.
Eeyore122 · 36-40, F
LOL! That is awesome. Today, they did the fundraiser prizes, and the MS Principal's son got chosen to pie a staff. He chose his dad! :)
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@MaryJanine Quite a few teachers are being arrested for participating in riots this summer. Does that surprise you MaryJanine?
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@cherokeepatti Not especially. They were probably demonstrators as college students and undergraduates, and they never grew out of it as adults.
Speaking of riots, did you hear about that idiot who hit the policeman over the head with his skateboard? I was floored when I heard this.
Speaking of riots, did you hear about that idiot who hit the policeman over the head with his skateboard? I was floored when I heard this.
cherokeepatti · 61-69, F
@MaryJanine yes I heard about that.
smiler2012 · 56-60
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@smiler2012 There are some teachers who think the rules don't apply to them. I saw a grown woman kick a kindergartner in her bottom because she didn't get up from the books on the library shelf fast enough to suit her. I saw teachers grab kids by the hair (when I was a little kid and later as an adult on the nightly news) with the kid on the ground screaming and crying for all he/she was worth. And this was PUBLIC SCHOOL in Chicago, where "corporal punishment" was "banned". Such punishment was illegal when I went to public school, and most parents of my classmates wouldn't stand for their child or children being manhandled like that. My mother raised four children, and she had to go to school at least once during our grammar school careers for each of us, but she had enough spunk in her to say, "If he or she lays ONE HAND on my son or daughter, I'll have their rear end in jail!"
smiler2012 · 56-60
@MaryJanine oh i agree it has always sadly been the case where teachers over stepped the mark in disciplining kids
Heartlander · 80-89, M
I remember "lines" 500 times .....
An alternative punishment in the lower grades was "memorizing", especially for group punishment. Like "everyone go sit in that room and memorize from here to here." (pointing)
You can leave once you can recite it from memory. A few failed attempts could get another paragraph added, so don't say you have it unless you are pretty sure :(
The punished group would dwindle one by one. 5 minute for some kids, an hour for others.
An alternative punishment in the lower grades was "memorizing", especially for group punishment. Like "everyone go sit in that room and memorize from here to here." (pointing)
You can leave once you can recite it from memory. A few failed attempts could get another paragraph added, so don't say you have it unless you are pretty sure :(
The punished group would dwindle one by one. 5 minute for some kids, an hour for others.
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@MaryJanine
Not fair! The same people always got out early!
As I remember, when the teacher started looking at his watch, the need for read back precision diminished :)
Not fair! The same people always got out early!
As I remember, when the teacher started looking at his watch, the need for read back precision diminished :)
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@Heartlander I can't help that..holler at my stepsister. She taught me to read when I was eighteen months old (No fooling! My mom told this story around and my stepsister verified it.)
Heartlander · 80-89, M
@MaryJanine
Understandable. Our kids were reading at age two and and education was forever a positive thing for them.
I personally learned to read upside-down, thanks to an older brother who didn't like to share.
Understandable. Our kids were reading at age two and and education was forever a positive thing for them.
I personally learned to read upside-down, thanks to an older brother who didn't like to share.
ThatMusgraveWoman · 70-79, F
I hated lines- a complete waste of time. The teacher never read them anyway. One boy in our class used to write : 'and a dragon ate the teacher' in every tenth line, just to see if he was caught. He never was.
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@ThatMusgraveWoman They were. I'd love to start a fire in the old school furnace with a stack of them. (Incidentally, these were the years 1966-1968.)
ThatMusgraveWoman · 70-79, F
@MaryJanine I wonder if they are stored somewhere, in some archive with an old, old teacher gloating over all the thousands of wasted hours.
MaryJanine · 61-69, F
@ThatMusgraveWoman I'm pretty sure most of my old teachers are dead. Or retired. My nephew went to my old grammar school, and he reported on the first day of first grade his teacher was a young black woman. I found out later my old teacher, who was a young woman then, had retired two years before.
MURD3RM0NK3Y · 26-30, M
I was thinking about different kind of lines
