Has anyone experienced corporal punishments in school?

Robert124 said:

When people talk about the good old days or them being the best days of your life. I want to cry and scream.

Me too. I had elderly relatives who used to say that to me when I was a child, desperately trying to explain how much I hated school. It made me even more fearful about the future and I used to think if this is as good as it gets I don't like this world 

Judge Dredd said:

I was already aware that there was something wrong with me, and I lived in terror to be demoted to "corner kid".

I was that "corner kid" for several years during my nursery and infant schools. I never did understand what I was being 'punished' for but I eventually had to learn to suppress my meltdowns and hide my distress 

Martin said:

A very moving occasion.

I bet it was.

You may know, but Sinead O'Connor was another 'survivor' although she was there in later years when perhaps they weren't quite as terrible as they originally were.

Traumatising nevertheless:

https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/sinead-oconnor-magdalene-laundry

During the last Papal visit to Ireland I was at a protest rally in Dublin. It ended with a silent vigil outside one of the former Magdalene Laundries. A very moving occasion.

I find it hard to believe classmates who say they enjoyed the schools I attended. Either their memories are defective or being an undiagnosed autistic child made the threat of violence that much worse for me. Alternatively, it might be a bit of both.

Judge Dredd said:

back then schools had no space or money for SEN classes or teachers,

Back then knowedge of autism and other neurodiverse conditions was nearly non-existent so without knowledge that you may have had a brain that worked differently you were treated in relation to how you behaved.

I'm not condoning the beatings but the techers in that era were often ones who had been through the war (the ones aged over 40 anyway) and were probably pretty messed up themselves.

It was a difficult time to grow up different in certainly.

I guess I learned to mask early in order to survive but still got the "strap" when I fell in with a bad crowd at school. I guess I was lucky that I also worked with my family in their building business so my hands were tough as old boots and I could stare the teacher in the eye as she tried her hardest to get a reaction from me.

yes, back then schools had no space or money for SEN classes or teachers, so each class had one child that would have needed assistance. Instead, they got daily beatings and continuous teasing from both teachers and pupils. I was already aware that there was something wrong with me, and I lived in terror to be demoted to "corner kid". So, I was always the first and the most violent when administering the beatings. The only people that were exempted were the Down syndrome guys, they were built like brick s***houses and twice as strong. There was one Down that one in a while got bored and started beating up guys double his size. Down strength is crazy, lol.

I started school in 1967 ,  I had a delayed language development condition and I was almost totally mute until the age of eight.  I was subject to daily beatings by teachers at my primary school, often twice a day sometimes three punishment beatings in one day.   When people talk about the good old days or them being the best days of your life. I want to cry and scream.

Judge Dredd said:

Pointing the finger against religion will only help the non-religious nonces. 

No, it's not finger pointing.

Religions have been responsible for a great deal of suffering for all time.

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

Those laundries were justified on religious grounds.

Religion has been used as a basis for abuse, time and again, over the centuries.

It's more complex than that. Predators will just swoop in whenever there are vulnerable people. Think about the Oxfam scandal or Cyril Smith. Pointing the finger against religion will only help the non-religious nonces. 

Judge Dredd said:

Even paedophilia back them was something that was quietly accepted and not talked about.

I know that where I lived in Scotland there were a number of these peope who suffered mysterious deaths that the police refused to investigate - probably because they were involved with the execution (heard first hand from an uncle in the force who was involved in the process - he is dead now so I don't mind sharing).

It also seems that a lot of people in a position of power will be able to indulge in their extreme tastes for kids because they can control those around them who could tell. I think this was the case for Jimmy and Cyril that you mention.

It still goes on today (see the Epstein Island situation) where powerful men make justice not apply to them.

Judge Dredd said:

but its role has been grossly overblown.

It so hasn't.

I could give you reams of examples but here's just one:

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

Yes and no. The Church had its share of kiddy diddlers, but its role has been grossly overblown. Organized religion tend to attract nonces, but as a British you already know that.

Amerantin (former member) said:

Can’t believe I didn’t understand that as a child.

There are tons of things that it took me decades to realise about myself, so not realising that as a child is understandable.

We are subject to the whims and predilections of adults unfortunately, as children.

Judge Dredd said:

we had similar cases.

If you are talking Italy, then the Catholic Church has a huge amount to answer for.

I suspect that 'turning a blind eye' is still happening there (and elsewhere) with regard to sexual crimes, and also the justification of punishments 'in the name of God'.

I wasn’t subject to corporal punishment but I was given endless lines and telling off because of my terrible handwriting.

Years later a more enlightened teacher realised I was just left handed. Can’t believe I didn’t understand that as a child.

I don't believe in revenge. I just feel bad my parents never knew the reason they acted the way they did. I know Mum blamed herself for how I turned out, but as she was clearly struggling with ADHD and having a PDA husband and eldest child, and a exceptionally bright ADHD younger kid it's  no wonder she stroked out. I would personally say that my whole family, including the current generation of children, have been failed by the NHS/schools and if someone would just help my niblings they may not have to face the same struggles I have.  I'll take that over revenge any day.

come on, what kind of idiot would take a therapist seriously?

LOL, it's incredible to think how much popular culture and mindset changed in just 30 years. Back then, people did and said things that right now would be inconceivable. Even paedophilia back them was something that was quietly accepted and not talked about. Britain had Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith, we had similar cases.

Judge Dredd said:

I heard that in Victorian England teachers were nicknamed "Flaybottomist", and that the notion of them being sadistic psychos was normal knowledge.

The further back you go in history, the worse schools were.

I've mentioned in another thread that a chap I worked with in the Catholic Church was schooled in a Catholic school and was hit on the knuckles with the edge of a ruler every time he tried to write with his left hand.

My mother was locked in a cupboard all day.