Corporal Punishment in Schools
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School
Corporal Punishment in the UK
The
cane and the slipper were used in many UK schools before a
European court ruling influenced Parliament to ban corporal
punishment in schools by just 1 vote amongst MP`s in 1986, the
ban did not include public schools but many decided to phase it
out soon after. Caning policy varied from school to school before
the ban, many mixed and all girls schools made girls exempt from
caning and all corporal punishment, whereas some schools used
only the slipper on girls. But there were plenty of schools
around that used the cane on girls, some very rarely, some more
frequently. The cane was administered to either the palms of the
hands or the buttocks. In Scotland the most commenly used
implement was the tawse, administered usually to the palms of the
hands, used almost as commonly on girls as it was boys. Since the
ban numerous opinion polls have shown that the majority of the
general public support
corporal punishment in schools.
The Rodney co-educational boarding school in
Nottinghamshire, England, (pictured left) was the scene of
probably the last of the well publicised canings of schoolgirls,
and retained the use of the cane up until the total ban on
corporal punishment in UK schools in mid 1998, the headmaster
caned the boys and the school founder, Ms Joan Thomas, caned the
girls. In March 1991 five 11/12 year old girls were caught
sneaking into the boys dormitory at night. The girls parents were
contacted about the incident and given the choice that the girls
were to be either expelled or caned, all the parents chose the
cane so the five girls were summoned to Ms Thomas` study the day
after the incident to be punished. All the girls were caned on
their bottoms, and the girl that was said to be the ringleader
received the more severe punishment of the 5, she was given 7
strokes.
Joan Thomas was interviewed on a
documentary about caning in the mid 1990s, and she told of a time
when she`d punished two girls and the following day the same two
presented her with a box of chocolates. A suprised Ms Thomas said
to them: "But I caned you yesterday," to which the
girls replied: "Yes I know, but we deserved it Miss". (Enter for
Pictures)
Rumour has it that after
the 1987 ban on corporal punishment in state schools, Mr David
Tough, headmaster of St. Audries Girls` boarding school in
Taunton Somerset put it to a vote of teachers, parents and pupils
whether or not to carry on caning. The overwhelming result of the
vote was to retain the cane. (Enter for Details)
In
November 2001 when a group of Christian private schools were
going to court to challenge the government`s ban on corporal
punishment in private schools, a young girl (pictured left), a
current or ex pupil at one of the schools, spoke out in favour of
corporal punishment. She said: "I think it is a really good
thing to have corporal punishment in schools because even the
knowledge of the rule being there makes people better
behaved".
In the Daily Mirror newspaper in October
1978 it was revealed in a survey carried out by the Inner London
Education Authority that girls were receiving regular canings in
some secondary schools, and at one church school
in London there was an average of one girl caned every day. The survey also showed that in the previous year,
1977, Twenty-Six girls at the school were caned Three or more
times.
In 1984 The Sunday Times newspaper
published an article about three schoolgirls who were each given
eight strokes of the cane on their bottoms from their
headmistress with their skirts raised for stealing a total of
about twelve pounds from some other girls at the school. The
three girls, two eleven and one twelve year old, were given the
choice of being expelled from school or taking a caning, all
three chose the caning.
In November 1948, several girls at Brentwood High
School were caned for unruly behaviour on the school bus. The
same group of girls were then caned in front of the school for
getting their own back on the prefect that reported them. (Enter for
Article Text)
In the late 1970s a Church of England
secondary school called Bacons, in London`s Docklands, was known
to cane more girls than any other UK school. More than two
hundred canings were administered to girls in one school year.
In 1976 the headmaster at Camden Square
school in County Durham held a fifteen year old girl down over a
platform while a female member of the teaching staff administered
six strokes of the cane to her bottom. The headmaster later
received complaints about his part in the caning.
In a magazine article a lady named,
Jackie, recalled a strict caning regime at a North Romford
Comprehensive school in the early 1960s. She recalled that:
"Mere insolence meant the stick for boys or girls." and
she also commented: "I well recall having to bend over for
eight of the best across thin gym pants for a second offence of
smoking at the age of fifteen."
In 1976 The Daily Telegraph newspaper
featured a report about a fourteen year old girl at Northwich
Girls Grammar School who was given three strokes of the cane on
her bottom by headmistress, Janet Dines, for eating crisps in a
lesson. In the report the caned girl, Lynne Simmons, commented
that she was ordered to pull up her dress and bend over for the
caning. A doctor who examined the girl reported that there were
three red cane weals on her buttocks, one of which was fourteen
inches long. The headmistress was taken to court after a
complaint but was cleared.
In her book called, Child of a System, a
lady called, Noele Arden, recalls the discipline at an approved
school in the 1950s called, St. Christopher`s Place, near
Liverpool, England. She recalls being caned on her hands before
the entire school for making a fuss about some items of hers that
had been stolen. She also recalls running away from the school
with another girl but being sent back by the girl`s mother. When
they returned, the girls were taken in front of the entire school
and both made to bend over a chair for a public caning on their
bottoms.
In a magazine article, Sue
Nicholson, (pictured left) talked about the 13 years (from
1964-77) she spent with 2 of her brothers at the Moorlands
boarding school in Lancashire, England. And in the article she
mentioned that "The cane was still used on girls as well as
boys." her brother, Howard, also talking of their time at
the private school, said: "We learned respect, politeness,
discipline. We were caned, but we knew the boundaries. School
gave us an edge. We learned to mix in a strata of society.
In 1976, MR. Henry Askew,
the headmaster of Heaton Grammar School in Newcastle, England,
announced in an assembly that it had been decided that from now
on the girls as well as the boys would get the cane. MR. Askew
said that the decision had been made after pressure from the
female teachers at the school who were fed up with the behaviour
of some of the girls. one of the teenage girls at the school
commented that the cane would be more painful for the girls
because they were not allowed to wear trousers.
In march 1976, The Sunday
Times newspaper reported that, Ethel McAdoo, a 5th
former at Camden Square Comprehensive School, England, was given
14 strokes of the cane on her backside for skipping a woodwork
class. Ethel was initially told to hold out her hand, but when
she refused was made to bend over and was held down by the
headmaster and a teacher while another teacher raised her coat
and administered the caning.
In
2002, the UK`s Channel 4 screened a programme called, classmates,
about a group who left The Grange school in Buckinghamshire in
the 1970`s, and were having a reunion in 2002. During the
programme Mr Redmond, a teacher from the 1970`s who was still at
the school teaching, explained the use of corporal punishment in
the 70`s, and showed his past and present pupils his implements. He said it was mainly the boys that got it,
although a former girl gang member at the school (pictured) later
said: "I remember one slipper." (Enter for Pictures)
Celebrities
TV presenters Carol
Vorderman & Cilla Black, The duchess of Cornwall Camilla
Parker-Bowles and actresses Julie Walters and Samantha Janus were
all caned at school. TV presenter Fiona Phillips and actress
Shirley Ann Field felt both the slipper and the cane. Actresses
Liz Hurley and Tracy Shaw both received the slipper.
Right: Fiona
Phillips got both the slipper and the cane at school.
School
Corporal Punishment in the USA
Paddling is still used in schools in certain parts
of the USA. About half of the states in America still use the
paddle especially the southern states. Girls are paddled almost
as often as boys, even pupils of 16, 17 and over can be paddled.
The paddle is a flat wooden board which can vary slighly in
design, length and thickness. Some paddles have holes drilled in
them to make them more aero dynamic, increasing the speed of the
delivery of the swat making it more painful and more damaging.
The paddle is designed to be administered to the buttocks only.
In 1981 at the Dunn High School in Dunn
North Carolina, seventeen year old Shelley gahsperson was given
six hard swats of the paddle on her backside from a six foot two,
fourteen stone, football coach assistant principal for skipping
school for a day. She was originally put on an in-school
suspension for six days which meant that she had to study in a
room on her own for that period of time, But after three days she
felt she wasn`t being given the proper work to keep up with her
important schoolwork and asked the assistant principal for an
alternative form of punishment. He said that the only alternative
was corporal punishment and that she would have to take three
swats of the paddle for each of the remaining three days left on
the in-school suspension. The following day Shelley made up her
mind to go and see the assistant principal to take her nine
swats, the assistant principal told her that six swats would be
enough. She then had to bend over a desk for the paddling. Two
other girls were also in the study for a spanking that day, also
for skipping school. The assistant principal produced a paddle
about two feet long, six inches wide, and a quarter of an inch
thick. He then gave each girl two swats at a time. Three years
later Shelley told a senate commitee: "I could not take all
six of them at one time, it was two at a time because the pain
was so terrible." she also commented: "It was the worst
pain I have ever felt in my life, both my buttocks were severely
bruised."
Pupils at the Faith Christian School in
Wilkins defended the school`s use of corporal punishment as their
principal and a teacher faced possible charges after a complaint
from a parent. An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 13th
May 2000, stated - At Faith Christian School in
Wilkins, students know that "serious or repetitive
misbehavior," anything from cheating to name-calling, can
result in several whacks on the rump. (enter for text)
Megan
Cahanin (pictured) was given 3 swats of the paddle by school
principal Mrs Judy Rials for elbowing a fellow pupil in the
school canteen (New York Times - May 3rd 2001). Megan`s parents
were unhappy about this, but the district attorney cleared
principal Rials after a complaint. Principal Rials commented of
the school`s corporal punishment policy: "It's
not our favorite part of the day," she said of paddling,
which she has done hundreds of times in four years as principal.
But it is better than suspension, particularly for fourth
graders, who must pass a state test to be promoted. "You
can't educate a child if they're not in the classroom,"
"Keeping children from the classroom could be devastating.
It could change their lives."
In 1981 Hartshorne High School
homecoming queen Frankie Mass (pictured right) received 3 licks
of the paddle to her backside from principal Carl Butler for
kissing publicly with football captain Forrest Kirkes (who was
also paddled) at the school`s homecoming ceremony.
Becky Patenaude (pictured), was paddled at
Harpeth High School in Kingston Springs, Tennessee, USA. In an
article in The Tennessean in June 1999, she said: "I didn't
get in trouble all the time, but when I did, I was spanked. Most
of the kids I have met who are well-behaved have been spanked.
And most of the kids who are not well behaved have never been
spanked."
Connie Pate, and the entire senior
class of approx 16 (8 males & 8 females), were spanked with
the paddle at Timpson High School, Texas USA (October 2002), for
rowdy behaviour at a traditional school drive by/homecoming
parade, and a late show for their first class. The males were
dealt with by a school athletics coach, and the girls received
their swats in Principal Robert Cousins` office. According to
reports bottoms were red and sore. Only one of the parent`s
(Connie`s father) appeared to make any complaint which was later
regected by the school board who ruled that the Principal`s
actions were in line with the school`s policy on discipline. (This was written about in The Daily
Sentinel, Texas USA, October 2002) (Enter for
Details)
In 1991 fourteen year old, Renee Mull, of
Lamarque Junior High School in Texas was given five hard swats of
the paddle on her backside for persistent late arrival to school.
Renee refused to bend over for the punishment because she thought
she hadn`t commited a paddling offence, but the teacher called
for assistance and had the girl held down over a table by two
members of the teaching staff for the paddling.
Kimberly Jones, an honours student of
Bartow High School near Tampa Florida was given the choice of a
three days suspension or three swats of the paddle for parking
her car on the school`s manicured lawns. Kimberly chose and
received the paddling.
In 1981 at Lake Stevens Junior High School
the principal administered a staggering eight hundred and seventy
four paddlings, about two hundred and twenty were administered to
girls. One thirteen year old girl described a paddling she
received, commenting: "You have to bend over the back of an
armchair and rest your hands on the seat, and then you get
paddled. I got two licks." when asked to describe the
paddling not suprisingly she said: "It hurts."
Fifteen year old Tamara May of Mesquite
High School in Mesquite Texas was due to be paddled for the
second time in a year before her mother Ann Torbert complained.
The school opposed Mrs Torbert`s view insisting that their right
to maintain authority was at stake. Mrs Torbert eventually agreed
that Tamara did deserve punishment but insisted that she would
come to the school and punish her daughter herself, which was
agreed. Mrs Torbert arrived at the school with a thick leather
belt and Tammy had to bend over the desk in the principal`s study
and was given ten whacks with the belt on her backside. One of
the assistant principals who witnessed the punishment commented:
"Tammy would have been better off taking the paddle swats
from us: her mom really sizzled her behind with that strap."
(enter
for pictures)
Twenty-seven
states have abolished school corporal punishment. Yet, the
practice continues with twenty three states still allowing the
use of corporal punishment in schools. Over 470,000 students were
paddled in the 1993-94 school year (statistics from the U.S.
department of education). In Arkansas, over 13 percent of
students were subjected to corporal punishment. In the second
big-hitter state, Mississippi, almost 11 percent of students were
spanked.
A mother who moved
from New York to Texas wasn`t too pleased when the result of her
daughter breaking rules at her new school resulted in her getting
spanked with the paddle. The mother wrote to the Assosiate Vice
Principal to complain but was told that this form of punishment
was accepted and supported by the majority in Texas. (enter
for letter and reply)
In
April 1999 17yr old Amber Page was paddled and kicked off the
school cheerleaders squad at South Grand
Prairie High School in Texas when she was caught smoking by a
school administrator. (enter for pictures and newspaper
text)
The
photograph on the left was taken on open day 1990 at Matamuskeet
High School in North Carolina. The 2 paddles are classroom
paddles, on careful inspection you will see room 5 written on the
top paddle. The principal`s office paddle would likely be
slightly thicker and heavier.
Left: The paddles used to get to
the bottom of any misbehaviour at Matamuskeet High School.
Celebrities
Actresses
Linda Fiorentino
and Tatum
O`Neill, and models Heather Whitestone and Jennifer Cole were all
paddled at school.
Right:
Actress Tatum O`Neill was spanked with a drilled paddle at
school.
American
states that still use the paddle in schools
Alabama,
Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho,
Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, New
Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming.