Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

I got smacked the first day of school! It was a shock as my parents didn't smack us. I was excited at being let out to play, I hadn't seen monkey bars before, ran to play on them & shouted, Miss Sampson her name was hit me on the leg. We had a headmaster & headmistress who were married to each other, they were taken to court for cruelty, but managed to keep their jobs, they would use rulers and the cane.
We had one teacher who was ex-army, if he said "come out here boy" we knew one of the lads was in for the dap. He was a real sadist!

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

I got the leather strap on the hand a few times for talking and/or laughing in class.
That thing hurt like blazes!
If you moved your hand right before the teacher struck (on the palms), you got extra lashes. Learned that real quick!

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

I remember being hit round the head with a book as he walked by my desk.
The boys used to get caned, but not the girls.

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

Reading everyones horror stories gave me chills!! Sorry you all went through this.....

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

Indeed I did Sandy, it made me hate them but I got over it and it left no long term scars physically or mentally, that's what they were told to do in those days and I realised later in life that it was part of their job, although you did get the odd ba---rd who relished inflicting pain on youngsters.

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

I remember the first day of senior school, we were all scared, first time wearing a uniform and joining a new school, we were in the assembly hall with some of the teachers when one of them started shouting at a new girl and hit her hard on the back of her leg with a ruler! scared me to death as I'd never experienced anyone being physically punished before and thankfully I never saw anything like it ever again

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

As Magic stated, it gives me chills too, worst I got was being sent out of the classroom or sent to detention where you were just bored having to stay after school. I was a pretty good kid in public school but high school was a different story. Still, no violence tho.

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

And don't forget that it wasn't just teachers in those days - apprentices were bullied and assaulted during their training, as were armed service recruits. And many parents weren't averse to cruelly beating their children too.

It was a whole different era and good that we've moved on but as a teacher for 45 years I have to agree with all those who have pointed out that we threw the baby out with the bath water and now teachers have no means of controlling badly behaved students, of whom there are a great deal more than they used to be.

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

Our headmaster was a Methodist lay-preacher who loved wielding the cane. I went to his church and at primary school was frequently singled out for special treatment.
The Deputy Head was our class teacher and shared his boss's passion for inflicting pain on small children.
This continued at High School.
My parents often resorted to the strap or belt or anything handy.

For years, I had a fear and mistrust of 'authority figures'.

Re: Did anyone on here suffer the violence that Teachers dished out decades ago??

At Junior school I was caned twice - once for talking in class, which was my own fault, and once because someone else near me was talking, not my fault but you don't rat on your friends.

At Grammar school we just had 'bad conduct' marks and detentions.