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?

Wooden barrel staves were often used as improvised punishment paddles in earlier times. Barrel staves are made of high-quality, strong, straight-grained wood, usually oak. The staves have a complex shape, necessary to produce a water-tight containers. The staves are steamed to form a curve before barrels are made.

It is unclear whether unused staves or staves from broken barrels were used as paddles. The latter may have been plentiful. In some cases, the stave was modified to make it more paddle like and convenient to use. Unmodified staves have sharp edges and corners, and are too big to conveniently grip.

Barrel sizes varied but a common-sized stave was about 38 inches long, 4 inches wide at its midpoint, and nearly an inch thick. Such a stave is quite big and heavy enough to cause serious injury.

There is no evidence that staves were ever routinely used in schools.

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?

A barrel stave was used in these previously posted links on spanking machines. Note the different sizes for anatomy and offense. The spanking on the bare appears to be that of a female by the shoes of the miscreant.

New York Times – Jan 29, 1937

Arthur C. Whitaker, Mayor of this city from 1912 to 1921 and an optometrist here, died of pneumonia last night in Bridgeton Hospital.

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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?

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?

Wow. 300 posts. Reverend Howard Benedict is no stranger to our habitue.

24/7/11

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11/11/12

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11/11/12

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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?

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?

<div style=”width:100%;background-image:url(/realm/A_L_123/A_L_trg.gif);”>Hi American Way,

Somewhat off-topic I’m afraid, but nonetheless consequent on an issue raised here. In your January 13 2013, 12:13 PM post above, concerning the barrel stave ‘spanking machine’ instituted by Arthur C. Whitaker, Mayor of Bridgeton, New Jersey, you say of the two press illustrations you link:

Phew! Hot stuff! Certainly a little avant-garde for the early 1920s US press I’d have thought! Especially as one of the publications claims that the event depicted took place in public in front of city hall!

Alas close examination indicates, I think, that my misgivings are well founded One really needs to look at both illustrations, and I can quite understand why the apparent shape of a shoe in one of the illustrations led you to make your observation. Boys don’t normally wear high heels. But then did girls of an age likely to be put through the ‘machine’? And if they did would they have such thick heels?

Consideration of the above extracts from the two illustrations will I think indicate that the miscreant being dealt with is a lad rather than a girl. Further, it appears from the more comprehensive of the two accounts that the punishments took place not in front of the city hall but in a back room thereof. And although it is stated that boys had to take down their trousers ‘in the old-fashioned way’ there is no mention of an equivalent disrobing being required of the ‘several girls’ said to have been subjected to the punishment on the Mayor’s instructions and with the full consent of their parents.</div>

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?

I must beg members of this forum not to post images of bare buttocks here, not even EAL
This is serious historical research thread, if you please.

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?

<div style=”width:100%;background-image:url(/realm/A_L_123/A_L_trg.gif);”>Hi KK,

Your every wish is my command – despite the fact that it is entirely your fault that I got no sleep the other night due to watching numerous episodes of ‘The Thin Blue Line’ on YouTube!

Clear your browser cache, reload the thread, and all should be well.</div>

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?

There is no mention of an equivalent disrobing being required of the ‘several girls’

Good thing what would Jenny say? Seriously A_L, good work, the miscreant is definitely a boy. Leave it to you to kill a good story.

Thanks for reminding us we are not an adult content site.

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?

‘Spanking Machine’ Reforms a Village
Both Adults and Youngsters “Undergo Treatment” — and They Don’t Come Back! BRIDGETON, N. J. — “Schoolboys here don’t know that the ‘spanking machine’ in the back room of the city hall is a barrel stave with a handle carved on it,” says Mayor Arthur C. Whitaker.

“It has been very successful since I established it about six years ago. I should say that between fifty and eighty boys and several adults have successfully undergone treatment. And I have never noticed anybody who has tried it once hurrying back for more.”

He explained that he had laid in the staves with the idea that many boys might be propelled by them along the path of rectitude who might otherwise go to the State reformatory and from there to a life of crime.

Is Satisfied With Results

“I am entirely satisfied with the results,” he said recently. “I personally know of several boys who have been started on the road to useful careers largely through its use. As a preventive of truancy, petty stealing — that might lead to more serious offenses — I can recommend it highly.

“Teachers in school obtain order immediately when they ask bad boys if they want to go over to the back room of the city hall and meet the ‘spanking machine.’ Parents have come to us and asked us to use it on their children.”

The mayor said he never worked the “machine” himself, but that either Romaine Kincaid, truant officer, or one of the “husky” policemen did it.

First “Spanker” Proud of Job

“Our first ‘spanker’ was old Captain Woodruff,” the mayor said. “He was mighty proud of the job, too, until he retired from the police force.

“Of course, no boy — no minor — ever is spanked without the consent of parent or guardian. Sometimes permission is hard to get, but when it is made clear that the alternative will be worse for the culprit, the difficulty ends.”

–The Saturday Blade, Chicago, March 27, 1920, page 2.