I Received Corporal Punishment At School

Did anyone else get their legs smacked at school? It was something that happened frequently at my girls' school. It wasn't as bad as a proper thrashing but the the teachers smacked hard and it hurt a great deal. It was also embarrassing to be walking around with red hand prints on your thighs.

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Stephen11 · 46-50, M

Back in the 80s my parents remove me from the public school I attend when I was 10 year old because they felt I wasn't reaching my full academic potential and they were right, they sent me to a very strict Catholic day come boarding school.
The school was run by the Christian Brothers who were notorious for being tough, my new uniforms was blazer shirt school tie and navy blue corduroy short Pants back in the 80 S short pants were very short and wide on the legs the general rule was that you had to be able to touch
your legs with your fingers tips needed if you couldn't your shorts were to long.
The main punishment was you got slapped on the legs and for what they called serious offenses you get slapped on the bare bottom every boy got slapped once a day across the legs, some of the teacher brought you to the front of the class stand you on the table rubb your leg up and down before slapping the upper thigh of your legs front and back until you cried.
I never forgot the first time I got my legs slapped it was during mathematics class we had a Christian brother who ckeary hadn't a clue what he was doing, so I put my hand up and asked him was he doing the correct question well he came down to me pulled me out of the deck brought me to the top of the class told me to stand on the table and putmy hands on my head then pushed up my shorts stood behind me and started slapped the front of my thighs went to the side of my legs I was in such pain after he that he said I'll finished you off later and made me stand in the front of the class keeping me had on. My head at about 2 pm that afternoon h hold me to Stan back up on the table and he stated to soap the back thighs of my legs and finished off slapping the inside of my legs there were hand prints on my legs he them told me to write on the punishment board that I got two slapping down the rule was of you got 3 slapping in the week you get a spanking on your bare bottom either from the principal or a teacher.

Then you had the embarrassment of going home in my case by bus and everyone looking at your red legs and some of the boys from my old school who wore long pants making fun of me and some of them pinching my legs this was a almost daily occurrence.
When I got home mum would look at my legs and say you were naughty in school and while telling me off she starts removing my shorts put me over her knee and give me what she called a warm-up spanking and send me to my bedroom for my dad to deal with me when he got home which usually ment another spanking.
I remember getting my first bare bottom spanking in school the first of many I was late getting to school because the bus was late punctuality was another big thing in my school and as I was coming in the principal caught me and send me to his office and told me to undress and he be up a little later he came into the room said nothing and caught me put me over his knee and started slapping me with a leather strap for about 10 minutes taken a little break so that I feel the full affect of the strap.

Ii think as you get to age 12 or 13 years ago you start getting more self-conscious of this wearing shorts pants and having people look at your legs especially in winter and that's before you get them slapped I can often remember woman saying things like he looks beautiful in those short pants are there very short on him on a couple of occasions they said let me heat them up for you.

For me the two most embarrassing moments was one day I had a fight with another student after they broke up the fight we were match into the classroom and made undress we were both made to bend over the desk and the principal gave me a spanking and one of the teachers gave the other boy a spanking after that we were made to stand in front of the class and at lunchtime made stand in the school yard as the principal told the whole school that what happened if you fight in school.

At home I was made to wear shorts as my mother liked. Me in shorts and my legs were ready to slap if I did something wrong.
The single most embarrassing moment was in my aunt's house , I hit her daughter and my mum allow me anut deal with me I was 13 years old and my aunt made me undress and called over my cousin to spank my bare bottom.

To be honest I don't think I learned very much in that school academically as all they were interested in was inflicting pain on students.

My main problem was that I was lazy I was putting intelligent but they said I spent a lot of my time daydreaming there were times I didn't have my homework done because I genuinely didn't remember getting it and of course I was slapped across the legs for that.
This day mum made an appointment for me to get my 6 month check up from the doctor and while I was in with him I started staring into thin air and when I came around the doctor ask me if I remembered anything he said to me and said that last think I remembered he sent me to hospital for tests and I was diagnosed with epilepsy which caused all of the memory lapses I change schools in secondary school I was striving in this school but one day while at school I got 7 tonic chronic seizures in the space of a hour and was in and out of hospital for about 3 year before they got the seizures under control but I was able to study on the good days.
Today I'm a consultant pediatrician at a large hospital I'm married with two sons and I believe that spanking should only be used as a last resort.
I somethings wonder how we managed to get through our childhood without all ending up under the care of psychiatrist .
I believe the education system failed me and is still failing our young people today .
But thank God corporal punishment is a think od the past in most os our school.

yvan6615 · 80-89, M

@Stephen11 Please give me more details: How old were you?Why were you slapped? Who slapped you , a male or a female teacher? What instrument did he or she use? Did you cry or what were your reactions. Did your parents were advised about you punishment.. If yes. how did they react? What do you think about the corporal punishments at school,? and all comments abour this incident. Thank you so much for your reply.

yvan6615 · 80-89, M

@Stephen11The disciplinary methods in the religious schools have not changed at all. At the primary level (6-12 years, in the 50's I was enrolled in a public religious school run by the Brothers of the Sacred Hearth All the pupils were in very short trousers from April to November and the current punishment was the slapping of the the legs in front of the class, At the secondary level (13-19 years), I was enrolled in a junior college where the junior students (13-16 years) had to wear the college uniform with the short trousers. The most common punishment was still the slapping of the legs with a thick strap but in the office of the Prefect of discipline or the Director.,For the senior students (16-19-20 years) other punishments were meted out, in addition of the slapping of the legs which was used occasionnally for the students who were still wearing short trousers, At 16 years,, my parents rightly or wrongly deemed that I wasn't mature enough to wear long pants. I grudgingly remained i short trousers up to 18 years old, As I beame unruly , indisciplined, and disobedient at colllege , I was often sent sitting in the office of the prefect of discipline. I didn't go out of that office without strips and welts on my front or back thighs: for the more serious offences a roasted bum.The method the prefect used was sensibly the same : standing on a chair putting up successively the left and right leg of my short, then slapping with a strap the upper thigh of my legs front and back until I hollered and cried at the top of my lungs. You were maybe 12 years old I suppose whileI was 17 or 18 years old.

(to be cintinued)

T
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yvan6615 · 80-89, M

@Stephen11Dear Stephen, I apologize for being so late to reply to your post. I was almost in the same predicament of you in my teen years, At the puberty, I was afflicted with the Kallmann Syndrom and was diagnosed at 15 as the holder of this hormonal and sexual disease . As you are a pediatrician you know that this condition is serious. I wasn't a normal teenager and I reckon,because of my illness,that my behaviour was not sometimes quite up to the mark, However, my parents, ardent Christians,firm believers in corporal punishments, in spite of all, continued to inflict corporal punishments on me until I moved out at about 22. I was also held to wear short trousers up to 18 years old, It was often embarrassed and abased by the stares, the smirks and some disdainful comments of other people, especially the junior students at college,in long pants. I felt at that time so lonely and so vulnerable, a kind of sick puppy! As my sexuality at 17 was thriving and going in all the directions, to curb these repressed tendencies, the religious Fathers of the Holy Spirit made no bones about giving me the strap on both hands or the heck of a spanking sometimes on my bare fanny, When I enrolled at the university, the corporal punishments at home were going on as my parents deemed them to be necessary. I was then about 20 years old.
In the conclusions of you excellent and insightful post, you wonder how you manage to get through our childhood and I would add our teen years without all ending under the care of a psychiatrist. Well, I had to undergo a therapy which lasted three years You write also that that the education system failed you and is still failing. The religious system has surely failed me at the primary and secondary level but not at the university level I hold a Ph.D in Applied linguistics, M.A, in Latin Studies and four other B.A. with honours in Literature , Philosophy Classical Greek and Education.And you write. Thank God,, corporal punishment is a thing of the past in most of our schools, but there are still 22 States in U.S,A. where the use of the paddle is used to punish the students,Are the corporal punishments to be used as a last resort? Maybe? I am retired now, but when I was teaching at college, many boys and girls told me that they were likely to get a sound spanking if their grades were not satisfactory, A situation pretty close to mine, forty years after. Nothing has changed !

Stephen11 · 46-50, M

@yvan6615
Hi Yvan, sorry I'm so late getting back to you but July , August are very busy months as we tend to do a lot of routine tests on children during those two months so that we're not disrupting their education, however I tested positive of covid on Tuesday so I'll be out of work for at least 10 days.
Yvan, I can understand how you would have had differently in school during your teenage years especially with your illness puberty is difficult enough without medical complications, I'm sure just like me your behavior after you are diagnosed I know mine went down hill, I think the frustration of being in hospital so much got to me I'm sure you have similar experiences.
Having experienced a Catholic School experience I sometimes wonder if these Christian brothers our priests were qualified to teach us I can honestly say I learned nothing under the care after Christian brothers, and I believe that's because you can't use fear as a tool I'm also of the opinion that'some of these religious teachers were pedophiles two of them in particular it was the way that they robbed me legs and the amount of time they spent moving up the legs and putting their fingers up my shorts and touching my private parts before slapping my legs it was usually during break time the other was the principal who usually slapped our bare bottoms but it wes something about the way he removes your shorts he did it very slowley and seemed to enjoy it you could be over his knee for the best part of 15 minutes with another 30 minutes standing in the corner I was very happy to end my days at that school.
When I was 13 years old we moved house I moved to a seaside resort and went to Catholic School run by the presentation sisters in other words nuns, I was very surprised the punishment was usually detention you really need to screw up quite badly to get your legs slapped or a spanking on the bare bottom however I did manage to get both but in all fairness I deserved them. I did have one incident with the local parish priest who seemed to be of the opinion that he could slap the Epilepsy out of me as he believed that it was the work of Satin , so he proceeded to remove my pants and spank my bere bottom on a number of occasions when he was supposed to be hearing my confession.
My days at that school were happy.
I know that in some America States there is still corporal punishment mainly the Bible belt states they still use the paddle, they also continue to use CP in private schools in Australia and in South Korea every thought they'll tell you its banned .
The way children are thought

today is so much different I see my own children delighted to go to school and that's a very positive thing.
However, the education system hasn't changed since the late 1970s it's was out of date when I sat the exams it's something I still continue to fight to change because as a pediatrician I can see first hand the damage it's can do two young people especialy those with disabilities .
Yvan I'll continue this tomorrow night.
Stephen.