I Was Paddled In High School

NOW MY GIRLS KNOW!

All corporal punishment had been outlawed in New York State for several years before my girls were born, so by the time they started school I knew they would never experience the “joy" of having to bend over and get their butts whacked by the principal's paddle.
My daughter Jennifer was in Seventh Grade wood shop class when one student's attention was drawn to a glass case on one side of the classroom. Among the objects, all examples of the work of former students, was a long pinewood board about two feet long and four inches wide, complete with a handle and a loop of leather that went through a small hole at the handle's tip.
“What's that?” he asked.
The teacher smiled. “What do you think it is?” he asked.
The students produced various guesses.
“A bread board?”
“Noooo,” said the teacher.
“I know!” said Jennifer. “It's one of those pizza shovels for taking pizza out of the oven!”
Knowing that nobody in his class could guess the answer, the shop teacher revealed, “It's a paddle!”
“What's it for?” asked a girl.
“To spank unruly students back in the old days,” the teacher laughed.
The class chorused “Whaaat??” “No way!” “On the butt?”
“Well sure, on the butt,” said the teacher. “That's the paddle I used on any student who messed around in my class!”
“My God!” said another girl. “How old are you?”
“Old enough to know how to handle a kid who disrupted my class! Besides,” he continued, “there are dangerous power tools here, and someone could get hurt if he fooled around. A sore butt was a lot better than buzzed-off fingers!”

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On the bus ride home Jennifer related the story to her two sisters, Jessica and Renee. They could hardly wait to get home, because they had a very curious question to ask their Mom.
I was chopping up some vegetables for the evening's dinner when the girls came in.
“Mom?” asked Jennifer.
“Yes, Jen?”
“Uh...were you...uh—were you ever paddled in school?”
I had never told the girls about my paddling in the principal's office when I was a Senior. I reacted as though Jen had asked how babies were made (and of course they knew that thanks to Sex Education class).
“Why do you ask that, Jen?” I asked nervously. I really didn't like to discuss the incident.
Jennifer explained how the class saw a paddle on display, and that the teacher used it on students. He had told the class how paddling was a very common punishment in school right up until the 1980's.
“Well,” I said, “yes I was. When I was in Twelfth Grade.”
Renee asked, “What did you do?”
I sighed. “Something really stupid and thoughtless, and I paid the price for it.”
"You mean they spanked you in school?” asked Jessica.
“Not spanked, Jess,” I corrected. “Paddled! There's a big difference.”
“So they paddled girls too?” asked Jess.
“Why not?” I replied. “We have the same butts as boys do! And remember, being girls didn't stop Grandma Dumont from tanning me, or your Aunt Gretchen or your Aunt Audrey!”
“Did you cry?” Renee asked.
“Ooooh yeah!” I laughed. “The principal gave me six of the hardest whacks in the world—right across my skirt!”
“So he hit you hard, Mom?” Jennifer asked.
“As hard as possible,” I answered. Then I added, “Don't you girls have homework to do?” I really didn't want to talk about it any more. I knew that in their collective mind's eye they imagined their mother bent over a desk and walloped on her miniskirt with that board! It somehow tended to break down parental dignity!
So off they went to their rooms, giggling a bit while I pondered our conversation. Since the State did away with paddling, not only did my girls not know how students of only a few short years ago received swats—they also did not recognize a school paddle when they saw one!

will999 · 70-79, M

Hello BadPam 56-60, F. I attended a "free" state technical school in Australia in the 1960's. The "teachers" all men, were all armed with leather which they kept hidden under their suit jacket over their shoulder. They tried to flog the rudiments of a trade into the boys before they reached the minimum school leaving age of 15 when the vast majority of them left that school for some reason. I don't know how many of them found their way into a worthwhile career given that most of their "teachers" were failed tradesmen. During the post war boom a good tradesman could earn a lot more than a teacher in a government school in Australia and nobody would give that occupation up if they were any good at it. In all the time that I was there at that school I remember one or two teachers who stood out as being obviously different to the other thugs and from them I learned how to ask reasonable questions and the art of balanced argument. I never hit my two now adult children. My children's mother told me that she could not get my 10 yr old boy out of bed on a school morning and she found it difficult to get him to go to school at all. Next weekend I asked him what was going on at school. He told me he was forced to do two hours of clock faces every day and he was bored witless. My boy could easily tell the time by age ten. He was no prodigy but he was bright. I decided it was time to talk to his teacher. I turned up at his school one day and spoke to her when all of the kids had gone home for the day. I introduced my self as his father but she had no mental image of him as far as I could tell other than "oh yes, the little blond haired boy who always sits at the back of the class". It turned out that many of the boys in his grade were struggling with the basics and were around 2 yrs older than him. This would put him at a considerable disadvantage in any physical contest, and I noticed from checking the attendance roll that his absences began on the days when his grade did phys. ed. or sport. (This state school is widely considered to be one of the best in inner suburban Melbourne, Australia. I find it difficult to understand why). Because of the inflexible nature of the way classes are formed in the state school system his mother and I could see that he would be permanently disadvantaged if he remained at this school. He was already a mile ahead of the curriculum and he had been grouped with a bunch of pupils who were underachievers for no good reason that I could see other than "it's just the way the system works". We decided to cast our lot with a small group of parents, mostly professionals who were home tutoring their own kids. We could not afford a posh private school but our boy deserved better than he was getting, and learning in a small friendly group with close personal ties he would certainly do no worse. If he had been roaming the streets at night, stealing cars or trafficking narcotics I would have exercised some heavy handed discipline before the state correctional services got a hold of him but it was never necessary. His only crime was being smarter than the average boy his age and being bored silly with the standard of work he was expected to do at state school. Since he left school at about age 17 yrs he has been employed in a bank. His older sister is now a primary school teacher. I have not asked her but I have good reason to believe that she never hits her kids at school.