How discipline was handled in school years ago?

[Night Elf]

Okay, my elementary school days were 30 years ago, but I was just thinking about the ways students were disciplined. I know time-out is used today, but I don't know what kind.

 

My experiences:

 

1. Having to write our name on the chalkboard as a warning. If we were called out by a teacher while our name was written there, it was an automatic dismissal to the principal's office for a lecture on proper behavior in the classroom, along with a visual repesentation of seeing how many tally marks were on our behavior card. Every 5 marks meant a phone call to your parents. Really bad behavior warranted an immediate phone call.

 

2. Standing in the corner.

 

3. Writing sentences.

 

4. Hit on knuckles with a ruler or paddled. (Yep, I was a student during those days. But I was mostly good.) :tongue_smilie:

 

5. Detention wasn't introduced until high school.

 

I confess I was the recipient of all of those punishments except the paddling. The ruler was used in my Catholic school, but when I moved to public school, the principal used a paddle. I was terrified of being sent to the principal's office for fear of that humiliation, so I was very, very good in 6th and 7th grades. My county had elementary school through 7th grade and high school was 8th and above.

 

Anyone else? Surely I am not the only classroom-talker here? :)

[MamaT]

Yes, all of the above - and I WAS paddled, even in high school.

[SquirrellyMama]

My first elementary school in IL had a black, rubber paddle used for punishment. I got that once. I had to stand in the corner for talking multiple times. The paddle cured me of talking in class.

 

Kelly

[Wheres Toto]

No paddling or corporal punishment here - NJ in the 1970's. I don't know if it was legal or not back then but never heard about it happening.

 

Detention, missing recess, missing gym, desk next to the teachers, desk turned around.

 

I had a 5th grade teacher that used to make us write when we did things wrong. If you said "shut up" you had to write it 500 times. I used to sit in the back of the room and lean my chair on two legs back against the bookcases behind me. After getting yelled at for that 5 times I had to write "I will not lean back in my chair because it is dangerous to my health and because I didn't get special permission from Mr. McCann, I was wrong." 250 times. Yes, this was 30+ years ago and I still remember the whole thing. I got to the point where I could write the entire sentence on one line.

[Parrothead]

Elementary school: losing recess, corner time, lines, principal's office, phone call or note home, corporal punishment.

[FrogMom5]

Paddle and writing. My 9th grade yr., in Oklahoma, I got paddled for ditching school with friends. 3 swats with a wooden paddle with holes drilled in it. It hurt and I wanted to cry but was too stubborn to let that happen. :D

Denise

[Ginevra]

I went to a private Christian school until 6th grade. For ordinary infractions, you got a "demerit" written on your demerit pad at your desk. If you got 3 demerits in one day, you could get detention. (I only got this a couple of times and it was a recess detention, not after-school.) You could get paddled with a board inscribed with the words, "The Board of Education" which was supposed to be applied to the "Seat of Understanding." :eek::ack2: I never received a paddling, but the memory of hearing a couple of boys being beaten in there day after day is burned into my mind.

 

You could also get suspension for serious infractions, such as cheating, possessing a weapon, cursing, kissing ;), hooking, etc.

[prairiewindmomma]

All of those. The paddle was retired when I was still in elementary school.

 

We also had an isolation pod in the classroom (hello, 3rd grade), and a set of "blinders" that went around a desk if you were particularly chatty.

 

If you REALLY got in trouble, you went to in school suspension and had to spend the day in the principal's office.

 

My dad used to brag about how many rulers he had busted on his bum at school. Sad.

[Blueridge]

We had a principal who seemed to enjoy giving students paddlings. I can remember him making the student lean against the metal lockers as he swung the huge wooden paddle with holes drilled in it...:tongue_smilie:

[KristinaBreece]

We had time outs. And I had one teacher who made us write sentences. "I will not tell people they are going to hell." (I was very concerned for my JW friend's salvation in the second grade. "You are going to go to HELL if you don't celebrate the birth of Jesus." I wasn't being mean... I just wanted her to go to heaven with me!) Ummm.... and I had one teacher (fifth grade) who decided that "What?" wasn't a full sentence. So if he caught you saying "What?" without making it into a full sentence, he assigned an essay on a homonym. Memorably, the history of the word "watt" as it relates to energy use.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Okay, honestly, I didn't get in trouble AT ALL in school until high school and didn't even *know* of anyone who did.

 

(note: in high school, it was just honors geometry. Two other kids and I just were chatterboxes *and* the fastest students. Teacher tried various movements around the room but we were pretty determined. She finally gave us interesting work out in the hall.)

 

Now, assuming my memory is correct, I would guess I probably went to pretty good schools. GOOD teachers can discipline *well* without using much, if any, punishment; and the great majority of time, they can also do so discreetly so other students aren't in Johnny's business.

[kalanamak]

In my school, it was being sent to the principal's office for a talk. It didn't even happen every year (it was me in first grade, for messy handwriting). In all those years I only remember 4 kids going to the principal's office, and only one argument between kids, a pair of boys facing off to each other (both were pitifully skinney, nerdy 10 year olds), and the teacher just told them to cut it out.

 

For chatting or copying, your chair was pulled to the front by the teachers. That only happened a couple times and year, and yes, that was me, too.

 

We were a very well behaved lot, believe me.

[Joyofsixreboot]

I didn't care what they did as long as they didn't tell my parents. Those were not good evenings.

[TrixieB]

I remember the paddle hanging on the wall in the principal's office in elementary school, but I was never on the receiving end.

 

One teacher wrote our initials on the board when we talked in class. I had the same initials as another kid. He talked, the teacher wrote down the initials, and I was mortified because everyone might think *I* was the one who misbehaved.

 

I was totally terrified of being punished, so I was very very very well-behaved. And I ended up in the principal's office anyway, for something I didn't do. :glare:

[JudoMom]

There was paddling when I was in early elementary (private school K-3), and some sort of write you name on a card and get a punishment in late elementary (public 4-5). I never received these.

 

In middle school you were sent to the office and had to take a paper home for your parents to sign. Not so much for talking, but uh...if you were talking and the teacher got on to you and you called her a name that begins with a b and ends with an itch :blushing:, well, that was grounds for going to the principal.

 

High school was either detention after school on Friday afternoons or In School Suspension. I don't recall what I did for detentions, but ISS is assigned if you skip class and happen to be with people who write graffiti about the vice principal on the walls and then use their lighters to make a flame thrower out of the spray paint can.

 

I really was a good, quiet, student, though, that never caused trouble when I was in class.

Edited October 6, 2011 by JudoMom

[Murphy101]

Paddle and writing. My 9th grade yr., in Oklahoma, I got paddled for ditching school with friends. 3 swats with a wooden paddle with holes drilled in it. It hurt and I wanted to cry but was too stubborn to let that happen. :D

Denise

 

Me too. Exactly. Same reason, swat situation, same reaction, and state. Was it from PE? That's what I ditched. I flat out refused to run in circles like a grey hound at a racetrack. I was skinny and by golly they couldn't make me do something stupid like run in a big circle. Honestly, I still feel that way.

 

I didn't care what they did as long as they didn't tell my parents. Those were not good evenings.

 

:lol: Yes! That was the general rule of thumb for most kids I knew back then.

 

I remember being put in time out in kindergarten. Unfortunately timeout was a little wicker chair near the cubby holes at the back of the classroom. By the time the teacher got back to me, I was sitting quietly in the floor making map outlines of the "chair sticks". Mrs. Z retired that year. I hope it wasn't me. I really liked her.

 

There was also sentence writing. Which I just flat out refused to do. I think once instead of something like, "I will do my math home work." I wrote, "I hate Mrs. V...." 100 times - which I did. I really did hate that woman. She was a horrid teacher and it was apparent she openly disliked me, which of course becomes mutual fairly quick in 6th grade.

 

Denying recess was common too. Which I didn't mind much because I liked to read more anyways.

 

Something I never understood and still don't understand - why didn't more kids ever think to just refuse? I did all the time. I think the phrase "Or what?" might have been my first words.:tongue_smilie:

[Karen in CO]

Remember The Board of Education? Teachers had paddles when I was in school.

 

I remember:

Spending many, many, many recesses writing sentences,

Being hit on the knuckles with a ruler more than once,

Being Paddled at least once,

Being Sent home from school more than once,

Suspended from school more than once. :D

 

 

I was valedictorian too.

Edited October 6, 2011 by Karen in CO

[Karen in CO]

I really was a good, quiet, student, though, that never caused trouble when I was in class.

 

I was too, mostly.

[Starr]

I remember a teacher getting frustrated with a boy in 7th grade and taking masking tape and wrapping it around his head and mouth several times. It still makes me shudder.

[Joker]

I never got into trouble but I had brothers who did.:D We went to both private and public schools and there was a lot of paddling. Our public school teachers even had their paddles personalized and hanging on their walls. The private school paddled for things they shouldn't and is why we moved to public schools.

[Laurie4b]

You could get paddled if sent to the principal's office. In high school our history teacher whacked a few people across the butt for talking in class. He used some kind of cane thing he had. (He was young. I don't know why he had it unless he brought it in to whack people's butts. But he only did that once. One girl got whacked with a few boys. She wore the shortest skirt of anyone, and we could see her underwear when she had to bend over (not an unusual occurrence to see her underwear!) Detention was the big punishment in high school. I can't recall discipline in elementary school except that I know you could get sent to the prinicipal's and paddled. Really, kids did not get in trouble much at all. They pretty much did what they were supposed to do until high school. (Elementary/middle school in 60's; high school early 70s)

[Tarreymere]

My elementary school tried to be 'enlightened'. They still paddled, but your parents had to sign a permission slip in the beginning of each year giving permission for you to be paddled. Of course, all of the parents signed. :glare:

[ThatCyndiGirl]

I went to a "christian" (or so they thought) school for middle school and it was Hellish. Spanked for not dancing for the lord, spanked for not closing my eyes during prayer, spanked for misunderstanding an assignment. They were EXTREMELY misguided and truly thought that they had to 'beat the devil out of us'. They left marks that lasted for days and it was, without a doubt, abuse. :glare:

 

We had a bonfire so we could burn satanic toys like He-Man, Rainbow Brite, Cabbage Patch Dolls and Smurfs. (Based on the book "Terror in the Toybox".) :001_huh:

 

I put "christian" in quotes like that because I do not for a moment believe that it was actual Christianity. It was a cult.

[QuirkyKapers]

Corner with dunce cap. Paddling.

[gingersmom]

I went to school in the 70's. We got sent to the principals office for a lecture.

 

Paddles, rulers, hitting?????? Unheard of. If someone hit me at school my father would have hit them back and then sued.

[Ginevra]

I went to a "christian" (or so they thought) school for middle school and it was Hellish. Spanked for not dancing for the lord, spanked for not closing my eyes during prayer, spanked for misunderstanding an assignment. They were EXTREMELY misguided and truly thought that they had to 'beat the devil out of us'. They left marks that lasted for days and it was, without a doubt, abuse. :glare:

 

We had a bonfire so we could burn satanic toys like He-Man, Rainbow Brite, Cabbage Patch Dolls and Smurfs. (Based on the book "Terror in the Toybox".) :001_huh:

 

I put "christian" in quotes like that because I do not for a moment believe that it was actual Christianity. It was a cult.

 

Good God. ;) There were bonfires at our school a couple of times to burn satanic music with back-masking. You know. Led Zepplin, et al. I remember taking a cassette apart and re-threading the tape through the wheels so it would play backwards. All I ever heard was, "VVVVWRP! VVVVVWRPWRP!" :D I guess that sounds like, "He is my Sweet Satan" to some. :tongue_smilie:

[angela in ohio]

I went to elementary school all through the 80s.

 

The worst I ever had was standing on the wall at recess for talking during class. That only happened once or twice.

 

The really bad behaviors led to a paddling in the hall outside class or spending a few hours chatting with teh principal. Usually the principal would come do the paddling. Some kids also had to sit outside class if they were bad, and then all the classes walking by would make fun of them.

 

It must have worked pretty well, because there was very little bad behavior in our classes. This was before the days of mainstreaming in our area, though.

[LaxMom]

I went to school in the 70's. We got sent to the principals office for a lecture.

.

Me too. Or writing assignments during recess. My first grade teacher put a kid over her knee and spanked him one day. That was scandalous. (She was pretty old then, and I remember my parents commenting something to the effect that she must have missed the memo about corporal punishment being outlawed... That was 1977.)

 

In middle/high school it was detention or in school suspension. I didn't get any of them much. Not that I was well-behaved, just that I either didn't get caught or my teachers had some weird affinity for me and told me to knock it off.

[twoforjoy]

I started elementary school in 1983. There was no corporal punishment. In elementary school, you got your name on the board, had to sit in the corner, has to stand on the side during recess, got send to the principal's office, or got a call home.

 

In middle and high school, you got send to the principal's office, got detention, or got a call home. Or a suspension, if it was very serious.

 

I'm pretty sure, from my parents talking about their school days, that corporal punishment wasn't practiced in the public school my mom went to, and this was in the 1960s (in NJ). My dad went to Catholic school in the 1950s and 1960s, and he did get hit with the ruler or paddled by the nuns. He would never have considered sending us to Catholic school because of that; he thought it was barbaric. And, he is NOT by any means a flaming bleeding-heart liberal. He votes Republican most of the time and he has no moral issues with spanking; he just thinks that corporal punishment has no place in schools.

 

I had detention one time in elementary school, for talking. That was the only official punishment I received during my entire 13 years in public school. And, it's not like my parents spanked me into submission at home: they only spanked me twice, the last time when I was two. I was just a naturally compliant child and so hated the idea of anybody being upset with or disappointed in me that I was very careful to always either do what I was supposed to or be so sneaky about doing what I wasn't supposed to that I wouldn't get caught.

Edited October 6, 2011 by twoforjoy

[Violet Crown]

Elementary school in the '70's. In theory, we had the Paddle, but this was Austin and too many parents would have sued the school for using corporal punishment; it just wasn't used.

 

Then, at the beginning of the '80's, secondary school in Glasgow, Scotland ... where they used The Belt. Of which I was mortally terrified. Offenders were sent to stand in the hallway, and the assistant headmaster (can't remember exactly what he was called) would do the rounds of the school and adminster the belt to anyone standing in the hall. I nearly got the belt once in error, as I was sent into the hall for an oral quiz in French, and the teacher had to go back in the classroom to get something ... just as Mr Carmichael appeared. He looked stunned to see me, and out came the belt ... and my French teacher reappeared. Phew. (I'd already learned that protests of innocence, in the Glaswegian school, just made things worse.)

 

I think they abolished The Belt eventually. Man was I glad to get back to Austin, and just write the occasional page of penitential sentences!

[katilac]

Besides detentions and suspensions, my elementary and middle schools were big on tedious and/or embarrassing punishments.

 

Writing numbers: 100-2=98; 98+1=99; 99-2=97; and so on until zero!!

 

Duckwalking: Hands behind your head, bend knees and crouch down, 'walk' down the hall.

 

No paddling that I remember, but the elementary teachers didn't hesitate to grab kids and lift them off their feet (the better to yell at them). When first grade started, one little boy kept trying to run out of the classroom, and the teacher lifted him up on top of these tall cabinets (too high for him to jump). In about fourth grade, a teacher put this boy in the spanking position over her lap while leading a reading group; didn't spank him but kept him there the whole period. Lots of weird, random stuff. Almost anyone might get the duckwalking or writing numbers, but the other stuff was reserved for the kids whose parents were less likely to complain, ie the poor and minority kids, and boys more so than girls.

[Jeannie in NJ]

dh and i were in grade school in the 60's. THere was a lot of spanking in my school but only the boys, never the girls (that was in Texas). My dh was in a Catholic school in NJ and the nuns would hit their hands with a ruler and one time dh was talking and the nun put a paper bag over his head and he had to stand in the corner. He kept pulling off the bag so the nun secured it with a rubber band around his neck.

[Cheryl in NM]

 

Anyone else? Surely I am not the only classroom-talker here? :)

 

In my schools:

 

Elementary - 8th grade in Wisconsin, detention or in-school suspension in the principal's office where I had to sit on the floor all day long

 

Elementary - high school in New Mexico, sent to the hallway where you were supposed to lean on the wall or sit on the floor just outside the door, paddling

 

Yes, I received all of those as well. I was paddled for snacking in class, the school almost had to replace a window because I was hit so hard that my head hit the window. I actually saw stars!

[mommyrooch]

Paddle and writing. My 9th grade yr., in Oklahoma, I got paddled for ditching school with friends. 3 swats with a wooden paddle with holes drilled in it. It hurt and I wanted to cry but was too stubborn to let that happen. :D

Denise

 

Paddle and writing. My 9th grade yr., in Oklahoma, I got paddled for ditching school with friends. 3 swats with a wooden paddle with holes drilled in it. It hurt and I wanted to cry but was too stubborn to let that happen. :D

Denise

 

I grew up in Oklahoma too and I remember being paddled. I can't even remember what I did but I do remember that paddle. :glare:

 

Some other forms of punishment used were writing sentences, sitting next to the teacher and not getting to go out for recess.

 

I also remember being made to read a note out loud to the entire class. I was caught passing notes and had to read it to everyone. Boy was that embarrasing! I didn't make that mistake again! That is, at least I didn't get caught. :lol:

[Joanne]

You know what strikes me (no pun intended) about this 4 page long thread? Even if the peopel posting weren't the recipients, children were behaving like..........children. ;)

 

I graduated high school in 1984. I "got in trouble" exactly once, in Kindergarten. I had cheered "boo" when the opposing team in a Kindergarten game was winning. I got sent to the corner. The worst part was that MY SISTER was a student teacher of the class. :glare:

 

I do not remember anyone getting paddled, and I can't even think of anyone having detention, or getting sent to the Principal's office. I don't remember anyone rude to the teacher, rude to other school staff, talking "too" much regularly.

 

I whispered in class regularly, and passed notes a lot.

[oldskool]

We would have to stay after school and wash chalk boards and clap erasers. Another common thing was after school detention.

 

Lesley

[SonshineLearner]

Poor Me, I got paddled at school; once in first, once in fourth, and then homeschooled. When I went back to public school for a while, I went to the office and had them give me the sheet to say I couldn't be paddled. (I had read about there being one, in the school packet, but they hadn't had someone ask in so long, that they didn't know where they were.) I was NOT going to be paddled, as a freshman!!

We also had recess taken, and other such punishments. (No talking during lunch etc...)

When I went to 1st grade, all the kids were black besides me and another boy in our class(and in each class there was maybe one or so white kids... I was in a pretty all black school; a totally different culture than what I was use to.... The teacher would put kids across her knees and paddle, or if kids were fighting on the playground... off came the principal's belt, and a spanking was given. I didn't realize till I got older, that the Principal was a majority of the people's Pastor... and that's why it was like "all in the family".... The kids were pretty good though... and I know now, that many of them had a very hard life. And, even though I was scared of it.... the Principal really loved those kids, and was doing the best he could for them.

[QueenCat]

No corporal punishment in any school I attended. I started kindergarten in 1970. It was not permitted in the county I grew up in. I can recall teachers writing names on the board, kids missing recess, having parents called, and teachers sending students to the principal. I was shocked when I moved to the south as an adult, and discovered schools could do that unless a parent sent in a note saying they couldn't. Needless to say, I sent in that note. Only the parents should decide if corporal punishment is appropriate or necessary. Most of the schools in our county didn't use it, so the note wasn't as necessary as I thought it was. When eldest started middle school, they banned it all together. No idea what they do here, we started homeschooling when we moved here.

[FaithManor]

I went to a "christian" (or so they thought) school for middle school and it was Hellish. Spanked for not dancing for the lord, spanked for not closing my eyes during prayer, spanked for misunderstanding an assignment. They were EXTREMELY misguided and truly thought that they had to 'beat the devil out of us'. They left marks that lasted for days and it was, without a doubt, abuse. :glare:

 

We had a bonfire so we could burn satanic toys like He-Man, Rainbow Brite, Cabbage Patch Dolls and Smurfs. (Based on the book "Terror in the Toybox".) :001_huh:

 

I put "christian" in quotes like that because I do not for a moment believe that it was actual Christianity. It was a cult.

 

 

Wow, I don't think we lived in the same state, but somehow managed to attend the same school!

 

My sister was threatened with a "thrashing" if she didn't get 100% on a math test. She was eight years old. She told my mom and my mom told the principal that if it happened, she and dad would be showing up after school to thrash the teacher. That ended the treats of beating for not getting good grades. Sheesh! I swear this school attracted individuals who didn't feel whole unless they were threatening to beat someone.

 

They also had "the burnings". I never took one single item. But, I was always looked down on anyway because I didn't attend the church that sponsored the school so therefore was condemned to hell for being "liberal". :tongue_smilie::glare:

 

The school tried numerous times to host alumni activities from the era in which I attended the school. No one will come. The current administration doesn't understand why since the faculty and staff weren't around for the "dark days". They think we are all anti-social for some reason.

 

Oh, and they gave detention to little boys for not being able to keep their shirts tucked in, or for the girls having a run in their hose (yep, had to wear skirts and bare legs were "alluring"). The older boys got smacked on the back of the head if they were seen with their shirts untucked. I swear that the principal was mentally disturbed.

 

Faith

[JFSinIL]

I had a sixth grade teacher about 1971 who made bad kids write out an entire page from the dictionary - it took several recesses and lunch periods to finish!

[KrissiK]

We never had corporal punishment, but we we had recess detentions, visits to the principal, etc. I think what made these all the more effective then rather than today is that back then parents actually backed up the schools and believed that their children were capable of and actually did behave that way. And when the kids got home there were consequences, there, too. When I was teaching, I can't count the number of times I had parents come in and yell at me because their kid got in trouble. So many parents believe their kids are little angels, "the teacher's out to get them", etc. etc. etc.