The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

Happy Thanksgiving to all American and other readers.

This struck me as quite amusing :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VHwnCU8 … =endscreen

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

Oliver Sydney kindly drew attention to:

The notion that drawings, paintings and other artwork can provide a useful commentary on social conditions is not new.

Alexander Burr and his older brother John were well known painters and engravers in Victorian England. They were born and educated in Scotland.

The etching “Caught Napping” was published in both the Illustrated London News and in Harpers Weekly in 1866. It seems that prints were also sold.

The etching shows a tawse so reflects the Scottish rather than English tradition.

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

Thank you KK for adding that image. Although strap use in American schools was unusual, there are some bona-fide accounts of it. I hope inserting this image works, this is a rare example of such an item: a short 8-tailed (2-ply, stitched) leather tawse, eerily similar to that depicted in the Caught Napping scene. This came out of a school in Boston Massachusetts, and dates ca1850 or prior.

<img alt=”1850.JPG” src=”http://www.network54.com/Realm/tmp/1353765439.JPG“>

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

Interesting photo HH , but as I commented HERE, there is evidence of the strap being used right up to the present day ( for example the public hand strapping of girls at Memphis Academy of health science( a ‘Charter’ school in a black area of Memphis which is extremely secretive about its disciplinary methods) and was reported in the media in 2008-2010).

I have also come across teachers in the State of Texas who relate its use in both East and West Texas in rural areas. These reports are of a leather strap/paddle used on the hands. At least one well know US ‘film star’ dominatrix recalls on film having been strapped on the hands at school ( she doesn’t say where : but the accent is clear Texan) .

Generally American teachers ( well at least those from the South ) are rather proud to admit to the use of the paddle , but the strap is kept under ‘wraps’, I can’t see why , as it is particularly often identified as the first recourse for parental chastisement. ( though not on the hands). I noticed you didn’t come across many examples in your first book, and wondered if you have any idea why this anomaly exists- even on this forum – where on the American threads , although I’ve raised the issue twice I’ve never seen a reply ?

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cdnc/cgi-bin/cdnc?a … 0516.2.107

Daily Alta California, Volume 84, Number 136, 16 May 1891
CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. Proposed Amendment of Board of Education of Rules.

School Director Hartley Desires a Very Radical Chance in the Mode of Inflicting Punishment.

School Director Hartley has introduced the following proposed amendment to the rules of the Board of Education regarding corporal punishment. The matter will probably be discussed at the next meeting of the Board:

All cases of corporal punishment shall be reported, as soon as practicable after their occurrence, to the Superintendent by Principals or Vice Principals, whose reports must show the names, ages and bodily conditions of all pupils punished, giving also a detailed statement in each case of the cause of the punishment, the time of its infliction, its degree of severity and the name of the witness or witnesses present..
Any Principal or Vice- Principal who administers corporal punishment. to a pupil or pupils i a th» school department in a mode contrary to that herein prescribed, shall be liable to an investigation, and, if tried and proved guilty by the Board of Education, may be expelled.

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

Hi prof.n

Yes, you are quite right, the strap did indeed exist in various venues as many posts here will attest, and I did not intend to imply otherwise. But, it’s use seemed to be much more the exception than the norm. For example, many esteemed contributors have linked to countless ISD policies that mandated the paddle, but I have yet to see <em>one</em> American public school district or board regulation that specifically mandated strapping (or belting) only. That said, I have over time received several individual recounts of former pupils who were strapped in American elementary schools; from unrelated areas, examples: Chigaco IL, Seattle WA, and Sacramento CA. This may simply mean that perhaps no policy existed as to the precise means of CP delivery and certain educators simply used this by personal preferrence?

Now, I confess I know very little about how, why, and when the paddle emerged as the adopted implement for SCP in the US. Many of the arguments posted here seem quite reasonable to me on that, but I don’t know. However, this may have something to do with that fateful event in Boston when the tea had a bitter taste of British taxation

This part of Canadian education was highly influenced by customs and tradition in Great Britain. We here can clearly see a trend toward the cane or strap only emerging from ca.1820-1850, all directly influenced by pratices from there. By 1850, the leather strap had already been the preferred method in public schooling systems country-wide, and the cane retained for private/independent schools with strong ties to English tradition. As birching/caning was not deeply entrenched in Canadian custom, the choice of CP implement could perhaps be more objectively made and there were four arguments (or opinions) that seemed to favour the strap in preference of the cane at the time. Whatever was the real process by which Americans adopted the paddle, one can be sure that British custom would not have been given any weight or consideration, and perhaps even a tinge of the opposite? I should note also that many earlier leather straps used in Canadian schooling were actually made in Great Britain and brought over by educators emmigrating to the “new colony”.

To find a bonafide strap from an American school is exceedingly rare. Even within those, many were impromptu implements (cuttings of harness leather, cut-down trouser belts, drive belt, etc.) and rarely an item professioanlly fashioned by a leather tradesman (such as shown above) specifically for that purpose. I don’t know if this sheds any light but I think the cultural difference between our two great nations in either adopting British heritage or wanting to be completely independent of it appears to have influenced this part of cultural behaviour quite markedly.

The paddle seems to be very much the preferred implement in USA schools. When did it first come into widespread use? I am particularly interested in early mentions of the school paddle in dated factual or fictional literature, and in official documents.

Have other cultures used the paddle in schools?

RULES OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION AND OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF SAN FRANCISCO. 1894.http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b92830?u … =%3Bseq=37

CORPORAL PUNISHMENT.

Sec. 82. Corporal punishment shall not be administered in the High Schools, nor upon girls in any of the schools of the Department, nor upon any children whose parents specifically object to it. Such punishment must be administered only by Principals or Vice-Principals, and shall only be resorted to in extreme cases when other means fail to maintain obedience. No excessive, cruel or unusual punishment shall be allowed. Pupils shall be punished only on the palm of the hand with a leather strap.

Sec. 83. Principals must keep a record of all cases of Corporal punishment, in a book provided for that purpose, which record shall include the name and age of the pupil, the offense committed, and the character of the punishment. At the close of each school month, a transcript of this record shall be sent to the Superintendent on official blanks.