There was an interesting hearing before the school committee last evening on the petition of Col. C. A. R. Dimon that corporal punishment be abolished in the public schools. It was voted at the last regular meeting of the committee to give a public hearing on the subject. In the absence of the chairman and vice chairman, Mr. Chadwick, president of the common council, was chosen to preside. Before the transaction of any business, Vice Chairman Pickman entered the room and took the chair. On motion of Mr. Donohue the board then adjourned to the common council room.

Col. Dimon was called upon to make such remarks as he might desire to offer on the subject presented. He thanked the committee for their kindness in providing for a public hearing, although he had not requested it. He had no personal grievance to present. He was informed of cases in which children were punished with a white ash stick two feet 4½ inches long, 1½ inches wide and ¼ of an inch think, being laid over a desk to receive the punishment—the bodies being flayed and excoriated so that black and blue marks were left on the body for several weeks. In his judgment the parents should administer corporal punishment, for they understood better the character and constitution of their children. If the punishment is inflicted at all, it should be with a thin rule; but he should ask that it be abolished altogether, as it has been in a large portion of the states. There are more children hardened and otherwise injured in character by corporal punishment than are benefited by it. Sometimes teachers act under the influence of passion and punish when they are not in a proper frame of mind to do so. In some cases, a suspension of the scholar may be necessary.

Col. Dimon interrogated the superintendent of schools as to the rules relative to corporal punishment and as to what punishment and instruments of punishment he had seen used in the schools. The rules, the superintendent responded, provide that corporal punishment may be resorted to in extreme cases, in the schools. The form of punishment is left entirely to the teachers. Complaint had been made to him of improper and excessive punishments, but on investigation, he had been unable to verify any of such cases. Teachers have advised with him in regard to whether they should administer corporal punishment or suspend the scholar. He would advise corporal punishment if he thought it best, in any case. I don’t know whether there is a less amount of bodily punishment in the parochial schools than in the public schools. He believed that corporal punishment is as necessary in the public schools as our penal institutions are for those who require discipline for offences committed.

Mr. Woodies asked Col. Dimon if he knew of the cases which he alluded to, in which children were laid over desks and punished with a white oak stick of certain dimensions, and he said that he did not, of his own knowledge. The chairman asked Col. Dimon If he personally knew of the states in which corporal punishment bad been abolished and be responded that he did not.

No one else appearing then in favor of the abolition others whom it was desired to hear were called for. Mr. Bement of the Bartlett school said that in a large majority of cases no rule is required for the regulation of corporal punishment. In a few cases, appeals to the morals and ambition of the scholars are of no avail, and a feruling is required. In cases where feruling is reported by the teachers, it is upon a few scholars. He feruled three blows upon one hand usually, and it did not hurt much – smarting a little – as the hand is hard. Sometimes he would administer three Mows on the other hand. A little girl in his school on hearing that there was a chance that corporal punishment might be prohibited in the schools, ejaculated, “Won’t it be nice; we’ll raise Ned.” This was a humorous view of how an innovation upon the old customs met the views of the children.

Mr. Burbank of the Edson school said that he desired that corporal punishment might be abolished. As he grew older, he was more pained to administer corporal punishment than before. But if it is abolished, and some adequate substitute not provided, the teachers might as well resign their authority at once. If the school committee should substitute suspension it would please him, but would it be for the interest of the parents or the child? He should not suggest any change to the rules. He did not believe there is any severe punishment unless the pupils resist. When a boy resists his teacher and the master is sent for he must act promptly or give way. Mr. Burbank read an expression from the late Rev. Dr. Edson on the subject, favoring corporal punishment.

Francis W. Qua, esq., expressed the opinion that corporal punishment could not be dispensed with at all times and in all cases. A judicious use of the rod is necessary, but an unjust whipping may do untold injury. There are some pupils whose temperament and weaknesses, physical and mental, should free them from corporal punishment, and be believed that the parents should be the ones to administer the punishment. There may be some children in the schools who cannot be controlled by the parents, and such ones should go to the reform school, or at least be taken out of the public schools. A case bad come under his observation in which a small boy had been led by larger boys to absent himself from school. His mother administered corporal punishment, on finding it out at night, and sent word to the teacher that the child – who was seven years old – had been subjected to proper punishment. The teacher, however, administered a second punishment, and the child bears black and blue marks from it now. Mr. Qua didn’t think that the punishment by the teacher did any good. It might have a lasting impression upon the child against school. The teacher may be a good one, and have purposed to do what was best by the child, she may not have believed that the punishment was inflicted at home. Corporal punishment should only be inflicted by those who know the child, and the parents are the best judges.

Mr. Bacheller of the Green school said that he had administered corporal punishment in several cases the present school year, and, looking them over, found no cause to regret it. In the Green school, parents object to having their children sent home, and had rather have them punished. No parents of children in his school had found fault with the punishing of the scholar, and in one case a parent had found fault because his son was not punished enough. If the school board will provide for supervision and back the teachers up, the teachers would be satisfied to abandon corporal punishment.

Mr. Morey of the Highland school thought that corporal punishment is allowable in almost every state of the Union. It is a disagreeable duty for the teacher, and if any adequate substitute could be provided, he should be happy. He thought that in some cases corporal punishment is necessary.

Mr. Whitcomb of the Varnum school said that he carefully looked over his record of corporal punishment, and in some he knew that they had worked much good. In no case had they done injury. He didn’t think any children’ be had punished bore him any ill will. He always sent children home when they could be made to behave by sending them home; and he only punished in cases where home discipline failed to be efficacious. If there are cases of cruel punishment the fault seemed to him to be in the teacher and not in the system, and perhaps it would be best to remove the teacher. In some cases, parents had instructed him to punish their children.

Messrs. Semple of the Pawtucketville school and Greene of the Moody school endorsed the remarks of the other teachers. Ephraim Brown said that penalty must follow law, or the law fails. The candid remarks of the teachers tonight had increased his respect for the profession. The question of corporal punishment was discussed in the school board from 36 to 40 years ago, when he was a teacher. There was a movement then to abolish corporal punishment, and it was finally voted that in cases of this punishment it should be inflicted the next day after the offence, and after prayers. On a cover to a teacher’s book the next morning was seen the inscription – “He that loveth his child chasteneth him betimes” – not after prayers. Mr. Brown said that his ideas in favor of corporal punishment were so radical that it was perhaps fortunate that he was not a candidate before the school board for a position as teacher. Enforced obedience to law is better for every boy and every girl, and they will acknowledge it when they grow up. A strong, healthy boy respects a teacher who gives him a good thrashing when he deserves it.

Maj. H. G. O. Weymouth said that he regarded the movement against corporal punishment as sentimentalism, and he was surprised to hear the arguments of those in the affirmative side of the question.

Mr. Callahan of the Butler school said that he considered corporal punishment as necessary in some cases for the good of the pupils.

Mr. Howe of the Colburn school said that the punishment is necessary for the good of the school as well as that of the pupils. He had punished some pupils when he should rather have received the punishment himself, but in other cases his feeling was different.

My father used to brag about his grades and the fact that he never wore the dunce cap. He never receive letter grades, only scores, and he never got anything below 90% He was born on Christmas Day in 1908 and grew up on a farm in the hills of West Virginia.

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Another big factor in my father’s education was ethics and morality. As a kid, Horatio Alger was my father’s favorite author, and he read nearly all of his books. His books taught kids Respectability, Strength of Character, Beauty and Goodness over Money, Rags to Riches, etc. After reading one of his books, I told my father that Horatio Alger must have been a highly moral man. My father told me that he grew up thinking that, too, until he found out that Horatio Alger was a child molester.

Maintaining discipline in the classroom has always been a teacher’s top priority, and there are many different ways of going about it. My father told me that there was never any standard procedure; discipline was at the teacher’s discretion. Some teachers were loving and aunt ring. Others were quite stern, even sadistic.

According to my father, male teachers never used a paddle, but either a strap or a switch. I don’t exactly know why a switch was preferred over a paddle. The paddle was used on Negro slaves before the Civil War. Perhaps using the paddle on a white butt would have been considered offensive and degrading by the child’s parents. Who can say for sure?