I was in 1st grade in Il. in 1978. I don’t recall ever getting the board of education but I do remember hearing about it, possibly from older kids. I also recall the paddle displayed on the wall in the principal’s office and I do recall talking to the principal about it.

A quick search shows that the practice was abandoned in Il. in 1994, and made criminal January 1st of this year.

When would the last time you or a kid you knew experienced it, and what year and state would that have been?

5th grade, 1993 Barrineau park elementary in Barrineau Park, FL. Mr. McGinty has a paddle that he could use on us.

It's still allowed in Arkansas, but I suspect it's rarely if ever utilized, and it has to follow specific guidelines by law.

The school district where I was a SRO still had it on the books as of the mid-2000s, but it hadn't actually been utilized since the mid/late 1990s for liability and PR reasons. They removed it entirely by the late 2000s.

7th grade, 1976ish. Mr. Scovill, the principal, had a paddle hanging on the wall behind his desk, made from what looked to be a long 1x6, with holes drilled in it. Legend had it that it whistled during its travel towards your rear end. While I don't recall what my infraction was, I learned that the legend was true and it stung like a mother.

Not a public school, but 3rd grade, 1993...little ex-pat missionary school in Prague, Czech Republic. Teacher has an army vet from the Vietnam era (not sure if he deployed or not) and had a paddle that looked like a shaved down baseball bat (it was pretty thin...maybe 1/4"), and he liked to use it. He called it "Mr. Pete." I got it a few times...mostly deserved, but sometimes not. If he couldn't figure out who did something, he'd just spank everybody. About halfway through the year he broke it over one kid's butt, and had to have another one made, which he called "Mrs. Pete."

He also had a small closet with no lights that he called the "dark room". If you committed a lesser infraction that didn't warrant a paddling, he'd shut you in there for a while.

These days in this country he'd have probably gone to jail. But if I'm honest, we were a pretty wild group and mostly deserved what we got. Even the times I got smacked for something I didn't do, I'm sure there were enough things I got away with that I came out ahead in the end.

It was strict, harsh, and sometimes unfair, but it wasn't abusive and none of us suffered any lasting trauma. If anything, we learned a little bit of a lesson about not acting like little shits, and the classroom was a lot more orderly for it. We had none of the problems that I see in public school classrooms today.

I went to NY schools banned before I was born. I for one don't think government employees should be hitting children.

From about 1968 to 75 I got whacked many times.
The early years by sadistic old ladies, by junior high the task was relegated to the gym teacher, I'm sure I deserved every one of those.
By high school I think it was pretty much over.

By Mr Talman in 1956 the 5th grade. I got in a fight with another boy outside during recess. The policy for teachers was to watch and if it appeared that someone was getting hurt to stop the fight and be sent to the principal for paddling.

1983, in West Virginia.
Coach Barnett was a golfer, and he had a mighty “paddle swing” as a result.

I probably earned that one, though I wasn’t the only one lined up at the chalkboard that day.

Orange Park Florida, 1975.

Mr Tabb would beat us with a clear paddle with holes drilled in it. He beat the black kids the worst. To this day, I remember a black boy named Nicholas, who was always in trouble and was always in the hall getting his ass beat.

I guess I started 1st grade in 1978 as well. I was paddled in 1st (several times), 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th grades! The last one in 8th grade was administered by the vice principal who was a V-shaped guy in his 50's who lit me up! No more paddles after that! This was rural Oklahoma, BTW.

JP

TX HS around 2002 or 03.
Buddy took a swat over detention, VP knew it was a BS thing for being sent to office for & it was more of a tap than a swat. We were good kids & it was for 'dialing down the middle' [C for every answer] on the evaluation version of the revised state test. They made the mistake of telling everyone it didn't count, so very few took it seriously.

In middle school I got dropped to my knees because the PE teacher was an expert at pressing the ulnar nerve in the elbow (The funny bone). Usually two guys acting out, he’d drop both at the same time. The other time, I got my shirt grabbed and pulled nose to nose to the building trades teacher while he chewed my ass for being a smart ass.

The gym coach was justified, I’m pretty sure the two of us were almost to blows. The trades teacher was not justified. He was having a bad day with other brats earlier in the day. He explained something about hooking into the circuit breaker box. I didn’t quite understand so I asked for clarification. He thought I was being a snot so he made it clear he wasn’t in the mood. I received an explanation aka a weak apology. It was no big deal in the end. He was one of the coolest teachers.
The only one with the cane was the middle school speech teacher. If you got out of hand he’d call you to the front of the class, you’d assume the position, and then after several fake swings to make the class laugh, he’d tap you, cut a notch from the cane and give you the notch. Repeat offenders would get a slightly harder tap. Only once did I see a kid get a whack that definitely hurt. He took it in stride and collected his notch.

I remember in the 3-5 grade back in early 70's a group of guys were always getting whacked and I believe rightfully so. Their parents wouldn't do it, these guys were bad news even at a young age.

Back in the early 50's, at what we call primary school, a temporary teacher lady slapped me for screwing up a line of writing with the ink pen we had to use back then. I'll admit that I was often less than careful, but I'm left-handed, and the pens were not.

I went home that lunch time, and my mom asked me why I had a swollen face. I explained.

She took me by the hand, we walked back to school and straight into the staff room, where the teachers were eating their lunch.

Mom walked over to the teacher who'd slapped me, and laid her ass-over-tit in her chair on the floor with a very fine left hook. 'You lay a hand on my son again, and I'll rip your F*****g head off'.

The staff-room was silent.

quote:

Originally posted by 400m:
When would the last time you or a kid you knew experienced it, and what year and state would that have been?

The American School in The Hague, seventh grade, 1962, we had a teacher who was the image of a proper English gentleman. He used to wear seersucker and white jackets (we all wore ties back then). When his back was turned some of the bolder boys would give him a stripe on his jacket with their fountain pens. Of course, the first time I tried it he chose that moment to turn around and caught me in the act. Out came the rattan newspaper holder (split wood that held the pages of a newspaper). The humiliation was much worse than the pain. When I got home, I got the belt from my father who patiently explained to me the difficulty of living on a teacher's salary, especially when having to deal with high cleaning bills.

My allowance went to the teacher the rest of the school year. Funny, none of my classmates who committed this sin practically every day offered to assist with these payments.

I still consider it something of a miracle that I didn't have to repeat seventh grade, nor did it appear that the incident made it into my "permanent record."

As Architect pointed out, the few times I rated discipline in school paled to insignificance when I got home.

I would take school punishment any day and every day over what was waiting for you at home.

I grew up and live in Texas. Kids got sent to the principal’s office for a paddling from the time I was in elementary school all the way to high school. I graduated high school in 1991 and a paddle was still used in my senior year. I remember once in an Ag shop class a kid was spraying WD-40 and lighting it like a flamethrower. The teacher gave him the choice to get the paddle or sent to the principal and end up with Saturday detention. He chose the paddle. We were all told to wait in the classroom while they went into the Ag shop. You could hear the hits and the yelps of the kid from the classroom. He never did that again; nor did anyone else.

Corporal punishment wasn't a thing when I was in school in Illinois. Wasn't aware it was a thing anywhere. Then I moved to Texas when I was 13. Forgot to put my gym shoes back in my locker after basketball practice. Coach paddled me. I told my mom, and she got in her car and headed to the school. I think the principal and the coach were lucky to live through that meeting.