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?

OK. So you have refused the fine. The reply:”Have it your way. Empty your back pockets and bend over.” Is this what you want?
I see it this way:You should pay the fine.It’s a fair penalty and ultimately everyone will benefit from the party. What’s unfair is the paddling in my immediate future. Having you swatted before me isn’t going to make my rump feel better. The best thing you could do, if you were kind and brave enough, would be to ask that I be spared the rod because the penalty is unjust.
There wasn’t a girl in my school who would do this for a boy. It wouldn’t have worked. It would only delay the paddle landing by a few seconds. But at least I would have known someone cared about what was happening.

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?

Although the school paddle appears in news reports starting about 1900 the paddle may not have become a popular implement in US schools until much later. So, rather than being a product of reforms in the 1880-1920 period as I previously suggested, the paddle’s advent may have been the product of later objections to school CP in areas that had not abolished it. I am now looking for news reports of schools adopting the paddle in relatively recent times. Please help.

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 bdofed

Consider why he didn’t paddle girls, like he paddled boys, in the first place. You obviously knew that jerk better than I but do you really think that was a likely reply? It’s a very small risk I’d be prepared to take because social inadequates, who can only get their kicks by bullying those who can’t, or won’t, fight back tend to back off very quickly when challenged.

I doubt 10 cents would make much difference but, whether or not, that’s all the more reason to fine, rather than paddle, boys too. You’re right that I could put that to the teacher but, despite all the evidence to the contrary, you’re presuming he’s a reasonable person.

From what you’ve said, the teacher use a technique similar to “grooming” minimize any sympathy the girls might have for the boys. As you say, my asking that you be treated fairly wouldn’t have worked but my standing up to him might have.

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?

As the news article about the Memphis school stated, school policy was not to paddle girls. What I was asking was this: Knowing that I was going to be licked, would you want to take a lick rather than being let off (assuming the teacher had discretion). I can see a good argument why a girl who deserves punishment should be spanked like a boy, but if she didn’t deserve it, why should she demand it?
Also, what would be your view on using a lighter paddle on girls or fewer licks. I have no experience of a cane. I am sure it hurts. But a hard paddling is really quite brutal. Watching one usually made me sick in the stomach. I can’t imagine seeing a thick blister paddle used on a girl.

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 can tell you that in the 50’s the paddle was as ubiquitous as blackboard and chalk. Boys custom made them in shop class for teachers. Each had its own design. For example, the art teacher had hers shaped like a violin with fake strings stenciled on the front.

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 bdofed

So they admit it wasn’t used to maintain discipline. I could have done just as I pleased with no risk of being paddled.

The difficulty here is that we experienced two very different environments and our attitudes are shaped by the way we were brought up. I was treated very fairly at school but you were brought up in an abusive environment. It’s quite possible that, had I been in your school, I too would have been psychologically damaged and taken delight in seeing others abused: just as the other girls did.

You ask whether I would rather take a lick than be let off. It all depends on the situation. If I had managed to escape though good fortune or my own efforts, I wouldn’t hand myself in just because my friends had been less fortunate. Nor would I expect anyone else to do so when I was caught. I don’t think I could accept being let off just because of my sex though, because I’ve been brought up with a strong sense of fair play.

If a boy and a girl commit the same offence, they deserve the same punishment (all relevant factors being equal). Therefore, if the teacher believes the boy deserves to be punished, the girl deserves the same punishment. There are two main reasons why a girl might demand it: to not do so could be offensive to her sense of justice and, by being let off, she’s being told that what she did was unimportant because she’s “only a girl”.

Completely ridiculous. Not every girl is weaker than every boy so why should a strapping great champion (female) weightlifter or shot putter be let off more lightly than a frail boy? Is this girl (http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/may/03/female-weightlifter-zoe-smith ) a frail little thing? QUOTE: ‘Ivan, a ginger-haired lad of 18, is straining at every visible point to keep his 91kg bar above his head. He lets it clatter to the floor, his face the colour of uncooked salmon. “See what he’s lifting?” asks coach Andy Callard. “Zoe can lift 2.5kg more.” ‘

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?

This paddle is of more recent vintage and by the looks of the objects on the desks it is used in a classroom of very young students. I agree it wasn’t just chivalry that spared girls bottoms but the severity often given more by males than females about forty years ago from anecdotal online accounts.

CLICK

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 have not read any of the following as I lack easy access:

Carl F Kaestle. (1978)
Social change, Discipline and the Common School in Early Nineteenth Century America
Journal of Interdisciplinary History 9 (1) 1-17.

No abstract available

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hiner NR. (1979)
Children’s rights, corporal punishment, and child abuse: changing American attitudes 1870-1920
Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic 43 (3) 233-248.

No abstract available

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Barabara Finkelstein. (2000)
A crucible of Contradictions: Historical Roots of Violence Against Children in the United States
History of Education Quarterly, 40 (1) 1-4.

Examines the religious, political, and socio-economic traditions in the United States that help foster a culture of violence against children. Finds that Judeo-Christian religious beliefs are used to justify corporal punishment; political practice favors family privacy; limited government; and a separation between the public and private spheres.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Davis PW, Chandler JL, Larossa R. (2004)
“I’ve tried the switch but he laughs through the tears:” the use and conceptualization of corporal punishment during the Machine Age, 1924-1939.
Child Abuse & Neglect. 28 (12) 1291-310.

OBJECTIVE: To examine attitudes, conflicts, images, circumstances, and time-period effects associated with corporal punishment and other forms of adult-to-child violence during the early 20th century in the United States.

METHOD: A sample of 147 letters, referencing corporal punishment and dating from 1924 to 1939, were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The letters were addressed to Angelo Patri (1876-1965), a popular child-rearing expert during the interwar years (also known as the Machine Age), and written primarily by middle class parents with everyday worries about child rearing and proper discipline.

RESULTS: People who sought advice emphasized the practical significance of corporal punishment over and above the idea that it violated children’s rights to be protected against harm. One in four letters cited conflicts with significant others about corporal punishment. Generally, children were perceived as frail, defiant, or feral. Rarely, were they seen as devilish or, conversely, innocent. Children’s disobedience and disrespect were cited more than other misbehaviors as reasons for corporal punishment. Age and gender of the focal child varied by time period when letters from the 1920s and 1930s were compared.

CONCLUSIONS: A full understanding of parent-to-child violence cannot be achieved without a firm grasp of its genealogy. The growing popularity of child psychology during the Machine Age had a measurable impact on how children were viewed. A utilitarian frame of interpretation was an important part of the everyday “work” associated with child rearing during this time, foreshadowing the tendency today to emphasize efficacy more than rights when evaluating the legitimacy of corporal punishment.

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H. Hughes Evans, Crayton A. Fargason Jr. (1998)
Pediatric discourse on corporal punishment: A historical review
Aggression and Violent Behavior. 3 (4) 357-368

Corporal punishment is a commonly used, but controversial disciplinary technique. This article reviews the pediatric professional response to corporal punishment over the past century. We focus predominantly on the discourse written to educate pediatricians, for the most part, textbooks. Using the sociologic construction of deviance proposed by Conrad and Schneider, we show how corporal punishment has moved from a condoned behavior to a socially deviant behavior. Based on our review of this literature, we delineate three distinct pediatric professional attitudes toward corporal punishment over this century:
(a) corporal punishment as morally sanctioned behavior,
(b) corporal punishment as a tool for controlling behavior, and
(c) corporal punishment as abusive.
We show how each of these stances developed and demonstrate how these stances inform paradigms that are still operative today. By reviewing changes in pediatric thought toward corporal punishment, this article provides a useful framework for child health professionals struggling with the appropriateness of corporal punishment as a disciplinary technique.

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?

When and where did the expression “board of education” first come into use?

It seems to have been before 1953. Hartford readers apparently needed the term explained.

‘Education Board’ Swat, ‘Socko’ Broadcast Scored
The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.)
May 15, 1953
Page: 1

VALPARAISO, Ind., May (AP)–A “board of education”–a yard long, an inch thick and all wood–is mentioned in a $60,000 lawsuit on file here against two teachers.

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?

KK I’m curious about your historical interests. Like Dean from Australia I’m working on a periodical (not a book though) without a pro/con element debate. I can’t help you with the board of education term but that could hearken back to social college organizations. Teachers were likely to participate in post secondary high school education where they may have gone to a big college or know someone who did. There are a variet of names given on novelty paddles on the domestic front. Mr Wood was a name given as well as the Terminator in a Memphis Charter school. There is no one who has searched out more links on on official recorded paddlings than yours truly. I don’t have time that Corpun doesn’t have time for on my hands to do research but facebook anecdotally can give names often named after woman like hurricanes (wrath) until the Carter Administration capitulated to the feminist with alternating names by gender and foolish metallic currency honoring women liberationists and noble savages. Don’t get me started. Did I set a record for frowns? Not enough when it comes to that lot.

Personally I’m offended by these names for they reflect a frivolity that is totally inappropriate. Paddling a child should never be something one would compete with another for the honor to administer. I could sense the periodic moods of the nuns by the moon and that time table magnified their reaction. You knew when not to cross them.

If you notice I’m posting a little less. I’m involved with mentoring juniors and seniors in high school with students who spend a half day at work. Perhaps due to the economy they seem more serious and parents are getting to know their kids better with 10% not going to work. I’ll be having that teacher from the Texas Christian school down to visit my daughter at Thanksgiving in November. Where she went to college .there were very few students who were paddled because they came from metropolitan areas where the overwhelming majority of students reside. 40,000 incidences in Texas is an under estimate for Christian schools don’t turn in their information. The clergy who oppose paddling should be working among their confreres to promote a more nuanced biblical exegesis and ascribe other passage that oppose it. What goes on basically in the Bible Belt is extended to all the states in Christian schools if facebook accounts are not to be dismissed. Not all Christian schools apply in practice but many are not sparing the rod in spite of prohibitions.