Gathering at Old primary school.

shawnee

There is a gathering reunion from a school that I attended in the 60s shortly. I have no great memories of the school , it was cold , hygiene was poor. However my abiding memory is of kids who did not perform well (whether through learning diffulties or not) being beaten across the hands with a cane. I feel that the teachers who carried out these punishments have an apology to offer . Would appreciate any views on this subject.

byhookorbycrook

Sad to say that was the standard of the time and indeed up to the mid seventies. Did you get caned?

shawnee

Well I did but not as much as some of the guys in my class. Most of my caning was for misbehaviour but I did see many caned for wrong answers.

Merak

I imagine that all of these teachers are now retired. I was caned at school for my handwriting which has never really improved. As a teacher I'm glad that we don't have corporal punishment now. What a terrible power to have over little children.
Times are quite different now. I was also slapped at home and this was not considered unusual. I have never slapped my own children.

shawnee

One of those teachers is only retired in the last year or two. I see him from time to time and now I wonder how he feels about what he did. I know it was the accepted thing at the time , but it must be difficult when you see your grandchildren and think that you would have caned kids like them. The reunion has brought up a lot of this stuff for me and I plan to write about it.