Has anyone experienced corporal punishments in school?

We had what was called in the North of England, 'the strap'. It was identical to the Scottish 'tawse'. I remember that the miscreant or victim, had to hold out both hands horizontally and flat with one hand supporting the other, to be swapped round between blows. The main 'trick' was to keep your thumbs well down, otherwise being caught on the thumb joints was very painful. The real 'hard cases' in the lads would pull their hands back as the teacher swung, so that they would miss and best of all the teacher might hit themselves on the leg. This resulted in a worse strapping afterwards, obviously. I can recall one classmate holding off a teacher with a chair, like a lion tamer. I think my 11 to 14 years' school was more like a bear garden than a place of education.

The problem with dogmatic religions, such as the Catholic Church, is that they are obsessed with sexual behaviour being the ultimate in sinfulness. In the Catholic church this gave tacit approval for those apparently free of sexual sin, such as the nuns in charge of the Magdalene Laundries, to treat with calculated cruelty those judged to have been sinful, such as unmarried mothers. This also extended to illegitimate babies and children in various institutions run by the church, because they were 'the products of sexual sin'. An additional factor is the utter confidentiality of confession; sexually predatory priests could shrive themselves of sin and their behaviour go unreported to the authorities. 

Roy said:

One side of me wonders if they were damaged by their upbringing, no one is born damaged.

Most of them lived through world war 2 which was damaging for both those fighting and those left behind to suffer the bombings, rationing and myriad other problems the era brought.

Anyone in their 50s would certainly have suffered and most in their 40s would have had secondary impacts from the poverty and hardships suffered in the post war years.

And almost all of them would have had family or parents who would have suffered first hand which often had terrible post traumatic conditions and behavioral changes that go with it.

I do feel sorry for what they went through, but it is not acceptable for them to take it out on the innocent.

I Started school in 1972, corporal punishment was used from Primary School onwards, Infant school used punishment that had more effect, for not talking and kicking other children, shoes removed for the day and made to sit on the door mat.

Primary School and Secondary school was normal autistic hell, ( autism wasn’t even acknowledged then) some teachers were actually brilliant, the majority we’re in between useless and satanist,  some were ex army and thought punishment was the answer to any abnormal behaviour. 
The subject of school punishment has come up before, I’ve  often thought I was a bad person and have had nightmares, I’ve stopped thinking it was my fault, these school teachers are dead, I’m not and won’t waste anymore time on them. One side of me wonders if they were damaged by their upbringing, no one is born damaged.

In my opinion adult comunity colage is a much better model for teaching autistic children. Lectures and optional workshops.  Come to the lecture, sit and learn quietly as the teacher explains. Then wander off and work through the material covered on your own terms. Need help. Sit in the workshop and wave at an asistant. Feel confident on your own? Go to the library and work through it. No one chasing you. No one herding you about like cattle. No bells, no buzzers, no one's going to force you into the lesson if you won't go. It's your life fail the exam if you want.

I wasn't a fan of nursery either. Way too loud for my liking and the walls were all painted bright yellow which I found too much for my eyes.

Big school was difficult but I was having attitude according to one teacher. I was then moved to a special school three months in and that's where I stayed until I finished school completely.

I don't miss school. None of them were particularly suitable for anyone with autism.

I would not have coped if my school had been like that.

Even at nursery I used to escape during playtimes. I found a gap in the fence I could get through and out onto the main road. Taking my chances with the traffic was preferable to enduring a playground full of screaming 3/4 year olds 

At secondary school I often used to go into registration to get my attendance mark and then immediately leave the school grounds, rather than going to lessons. I cannot think of any occasions when I was stopped or questioned about where I was going.

Most of my school education was in Scotland in the 1970s, where the "belt" also called the "tawse", on the hand was the form of corporal punishment used. I didn't fancy getting the belt so I behaved myself. If I had caused trouble at school, I am sure that my parents would be told and there would be further punishment at home (not corporal punishment). I didn't receive corporal punishment.

It was distressing hearing the noise of the belt hitting someones hand, I sometimes heard the whack noise coming from another classroom.

Some boys wanted to be seen as being "hard" so they would play up, when taught by what they perceived as a weak teacher, who might not belt painfully. I have to say that I witnessed some appalling pupil behaviour at the school and heard about worse.    I think that some pupils were sent to get the belt from a Physical Education teacher as a more severe punishment.

I didn't feel that I was unfairly treated by any of the teachers at the school.  A teacher is just trying to do their job, if people were to illtreat other types of workers then the law would get involved.

Years after I left that school, I read an article in the local paper in which an unnamed former pupil who's age was the same as mine, recalled that during his schooldays, boys of low social status were punished more harshly at the school.  It was commonly thought that the parents of more middle class pupils would complain to the school if they felt that their children had been unfairly punished.  So maybe some pupils got a raw deal.

Article about the tawse here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-39044445

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of teachers we prison wardens. My school was like a prison in some ways, doors were always locked and there was a huge fence around it. 

But the use of force for self defence, mutual defence or restraint is still legal I belive. I doubt any teacher could get away with punching their students lights out and then saying 'it was the only way to stop him leaving the class room' but in principal they can use force to detain kids in class. In effect they are a bit like prison wardens in that sence.

Judge Dredd said:

That is simply not true. There were abuses, but that's inevitable in such an enormous organization. 

Nope.

I don't think you need more examples than the one I gave to see the institutionalised abuse in the name of God.

Judge Dredd said:

Please remember that the Church is NOT a charity. The duty of a Catholic is the salvation of souls, not the improvement of material conditions. What's the point of making your earthly life more pleasant, just to have your soul sent to Hell for eternity 40 years later? 

 I worked in the finance department of a huge Catholic Diocese for years.

The Dioceses ARE charities.

'Saving souls' shouldn't involve causing people in your 'care' to suffer abuse whether physical or sexual and certainly shouldn't involve using people as slaves.

'Celibacy' is also a problem with regard to sexual abuse ...

It was more less phased out when I was at school, though a couple of teachers still smacked people's arms. I believe it's illegal to do this now in the United Kingdom. I was never physically punished during my times at school.

The Catholic Church has in my opinion, insitutionalised abuse (and I'm not just talking sexual) on a massive scale.

Try to deal with "ethnic" communities in UK. Their education system makes the worst Catholic school look like a theme park. 

The Catholic Church has in my opinion, insitutionalised abuse (and I'm not just talking sexual) on a massive scale.

That is simply not true. There were abuses, but that's inevitable in such an enormous organization. 

Please remember that the Church is NOT a charity. The duty of a Catholic is the salvation of souls, not the improvement of material conditions. What's the point of making your earthly life more pleasant, just to have your soul sent to Hell for eternity 40 years later? 

By the way, I am not a Catholic, I just studied their worldview to understand them. 

that too

Mate, they did not grew out of it. You were simply getting too big, and they were scared of retaliation.

No for things like running off. Fighting with my brother, damaging stuff in the home. etc TBH they kind of grew out of corperal punishment as I got towards my teens.

so they just beat you whenever they fancied it? That looks like child abuse, not homeschooling

I only spend a year or 2 in school and by then it had been abolished. However I was homeschooled and my parents certainly belived in it. I never got it for not being able to do school work though.

Martin said:

I find it hard to believe classmates who say they enjoyed the schools I attended

Stockholm syndrome is paradoxical because the sympathetic sentiments that captives feel towards their captors are the opposite of the fear and disdain which an onlooker might feel towards the captors.

There are four key components that characterize Stockholm syndrome:

• A hostage's development of positive feelings towards the captor
• No previous relationship between hostage and captor
• A refusal by hostages to cooperate with police and other government authorities
• A hostage's belief in the humanity of the captor, ceasing to perceive them as a threat, when the victim holds the same values as the aggressor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

Oh yes, that's the nice thing about the Highlands, lots of places to hide a nonces body.
Now there's a review for TripAdvisor. XD
And thus concludes my participation in this thread, I thought it was about punishment experiences at school I'm not interested in discussing wrong-uns, makes you sick and puts you off your tea.