# Did the school you went to as a kid allow corporal punishment? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 25, 2008, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068 "2008-02-25T12:39:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/1 "2008-02-25T12:39:10Z")
Mine certainly did (I’m a product of the West Virginia public school system, graduated HS in 1977). The teachers were empowered by state law to act _in loco parentis_, which was interpreted so as to allow them to punish student wrongdoing by means of the paddle – anything from the sort that one bounces a ball on a rubber band off, to great horrid planks with holes drilled in them, much like college frat paddles. And if the teacher couldn’t pound you into conforming to her (grade school teachers were nearly all female)wishes, the principal was always there to lend a stronger hand to the matter. This was a totally accepted part of the K-12 culture of that place and time; I’m just curious as to how widespread the practice was/is. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/2 "2008-02-25T12:44:22Z")
Yes. Pennsylvania public schools in the 60’s. They had a broken hockey stick wrapped with blue cellophane tape to make it sting worse, and named it the Bluebird of Happiness. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/3 "2008-02-25T12:52:36Z")
Yep. I left secondary school in the 1980s. Punishments were: For boys: **-The ‘slipper’** (actually a plimsoll) - usually one or three hard strokes across the backside of the bent-over offender. Could be administered by the headmaster or housemasters **-The cane** - a bamboo cane of the Charlie Chaplin variety - one quite hard stroke across the backside. I might be misremembering this, but I think it was limited to one stroke, but that serious offenders may have had to come back on three successive days, receiving three in total. Administered only by the headmaster. For girls: **-The ruler** - a 12 inch wooden ruler smacked very hard across the upturned palm of the offender’s non-writing hand. Administered only by female staff (my memory is hinting that it was the nurse/matron, but that seems unlikely) ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/4 "2008-02-25T12:58:44Z")
Yes. When the headmaster tried to cane me after another student made a false accusation againt me, I snatched the cane from him and chased him about the room a few times whacking away at him. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/5 "2008-02-25T13:01:18Z")
No. Dutch elementary school in the 70’s. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/6 "2008-02-25T13:08:17Z")
Yes, right up until 9th grade (~1975) they could wack you with those lethal looking paddle devices, some with holes in them to make them more areodynamic (and to leave welts) And if a teacher couldn’t deliver hard enough blows to you arse with one they would go get the baseball coach to deleiver the blows. :eek: In high school they just sent you home. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/7 "2008-02-25T13:08:58Z")
Yes - the “strap” (I don’t recall exactly what it was - some sort of strap of leather) across the palm. I had it a couple of times. 1960’s. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/8 "2008-02-25T13:14:13Z")
Yes, 1972 - Bill Kleckner, Dean of Men, would give you the choice of three swats or calling your mom. ---
**Author:** ![bufftabby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bufftabby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bufftabby)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/9 "2008-02-25T13:14:22Z")
My school system (rural TN) made paddling optional (and only administered by the principal or vice-principal) around 1995, allowing students to be suspended instead, at the parents’ discretion. Most parents checked “yes, you may beat my child” (not the exact wording, but close enough) on the form the school sent home. I was in about 5th grade at this point. Prior to that, paddlings were administered by the teachers. I’m pretty sure my 3rd grade teacher enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/10 "2008-02-25T13:15:41Z")
Both the strap and the cane were in use in NZ in the early 80’s (it was acceptable in the 80’s 😉 ) I got neither 😃 but I knew people that got _6 of the best_, several times. And Mrs Check would cane girls if they transgressed sufficiently. Si ---
**Author:** ![8675309](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/8/ea5d25/32.png) [@8675309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/8675309)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/11 "2008-02-25T13:17:25Z")
Acceptable, but rarely used when I went to school in the 70’s-80’s. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/12 "2008-02-25T13:21:47Z")
IIRC, parents could opt in for allowing corporal punishment in Virginia (graduated 1985). ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/13 "2008-02-25T13:29:19Z")
I attended school from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. My father was in the Army, so I attended schools in Texas, California, Tennessee, and Illinois. Only the Texas schools allowed corporal punishment. It was a huge paddle administered by the vice-principal. (I was never paddled, though.) ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/14 "2008-02-25T13:31:13Z")
Yes. New South Wales, early 80s. It was “The Cane” - about three or four feet of bamboo delivered across the fingers with palms open and upwards, always in multiples of two up to a maximum of six, depending on the severity of the offence: “two cuts”, “four cuts”, or the dreaded “six of the best”. ---
**Author:** ![feppytweed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/feppytweed/32/4280_2.png) [@feppytweed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/feppytweed)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/15 "2008-02-25T13:41:36Z")
Yes. Mississippi, just a few years ago. Just your standard paddle, a shorter version of what one might find in a frat. A few licks were administered by the principal. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/16 "2008-02-25T13:50:09Z")
Nope. Never. Not of any kind. Metropolitan (=northeast) New Jersey, 1960’s. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/17 "2008-02-25T13:57:36Z")
South Korea, mid-late 90s, and hell yes. No regulations either - my first experience with corporal punishment was getting slapped across the face with a metal can. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/18 "2008-02-25T14:06:32Z")
London, UK, 1964 - 72. Caning, throwing wooden board rubbers in class and denying bullying existed were all present. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/19 "2008-02-25T14:08:26Z")
Moved from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. **Gfactor** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068/20 "2008-02-25T14:13:08Z")
[QUOTE=Gfactor] Moved from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. [/QUOTE] I don’t understand your reasoning. These are not opinions we’re expressing. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-school-you-went-to-as-a-kid-allow-corporal-punishment/439068.md?page=2)