School Belt44

HOWEVER – these boys were from a different social class from those normally taught by the Christian Brothers at that time.
On the other hand, working-class boys were expected to take the hardships of life from a very early age. Obedience was the prime virtue expected of the young.
Children were hit with sticks, cat o’nine tails, belts, and fists.
In the workplace, child labor was common, and work targets were maintained with severe corporal punishment.
Severity towards children was non-sectarian and classless.
By contrast, in the Brother’s schools, a kindly discipline seems to have prevailed. 1915: ‘The Brothers seem in a wonderful way to have won the affections of the boys under them and in very large measure to have dispensed with anything in the nature of corporal punishment, but on their leaving, the rod appears to have come into strong evidence again.’