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Subject: School Paddlings Author: Brenda (the good ol' days) [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 05:23:32 04/11/26 Sat When I was in school, principals and some teachers paddled naughty students. School CP seemed like a nearly universal American phenomenon back in the day. Students and parents embraced the practice, and we kids accepted it as the way things were. Was paddling used in your school(s)? Were you yourself paddled by a principal, teacher, or other other school staff? If paddling was allowed, what was a typical number of strokes? Were there rules about how a paddling was conducted (for example, number of strokes)? Where did you go to school and when? Anything else you'd like to add? [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Brenda [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 05:44:37 04/11/26 Sat I went to school in Montana and Idaho in the 60s and 70s. Paddling was alive and well--and frequently used--in the schools back then. Principals did most of the paddling. I was sent to the principal's office a few times for misbehaving and always had a hot sore bottom when I returned to class. I don't know if there were rules about how paddlings were to be conducted or if principals and teachers had wide latitude. A typical paddling in junior or senior high might have been 4 or 5 swats, but more were often given for serious and repeated offenses. Fewer swats were given in elementary school as a rule. Both boys and girls were paddled, but boys were more frequent recipients. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Alfred22 for Brenda [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 06:29:16 04/11/26 Sat Your account is most interesting and at almost all schools that did paddle there were very strict rules about how it was done. Licks were limited and the paddles were usually without holes. I kind of accidentally dodged ever getting it in the sense that I attended schools that paddled before I got there and later after I was no longer there. So, I have no direct or "hands-on" knowledge. I believe that paddling was not restricted to boys but boys got it the most. Girls tended to get it for repeated rule infractions like tardies. Boys got the paddle harder, I suspect and more often for fighting. Everyone who got five or more licks cried, had watery eyes, and had trouble not rubbing and a lot of discomfort if they had to sit on a hard desk seat. Everyone watched the recently paddled one as he or she sat down very gingerly. Or so it was said. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Brenda (to Alfred22) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 06:46:17 04/11/26 Sat Very interesting. Thanks for sharing. If you don't mind me asking, where did you go to school and when did you graduate? [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Alfred22 [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 07:22:12 04/11/26 Sat Long ago I went to school and I started in private school, having been born in the wrong month for public 1st grade. So, Brenda I am your elder and I expect and demand respect from you! The first three grades were in Florida and the last nine north of Florida but not too far north. We had a cheer song for big games where we asked Are you from Dixie and named a few southern states and then excepted the opposing team's town or school name. I always answered YES since my mother was from Dixie and well below the Mason Dixson Line. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: St J Girl [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 08:01:56 04/11/26 Sat I am a Millenial. I grew up in Vermont, where school CP had been banned before I entered kindergarten. My parents were both paddled in school. My dad, barely a Baby Boomer (he graduated from high school c. 1982), went from being a paddled student to a proponent of school CP. Over the years, I heard him say several times that my sister and I could have benefited from being paddled in the principal's office. It's not as if we got away with much; dad paddled us at home if we misbehaved at school. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Scott [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 14:04:44 04/11/26 Sat I went to school in Washington State in a rural area near Seattle. I graduated from high school in 1972. Paddling was allowed in all grades from K through 12 although I don't remember any of my friends being paddled before 3rd or 4th grade. I got one and only one paddling; I was very lucky since most of my friends got several over the years. It was in 7th grade that I found myself in the principal's office. On the way to the office, I hoped for leniency, but all hopes were soon dashed. When the principal called me into his inner office, the first thing I saw was a big wooden paddle laid out on his desk. I got five firm swats. It truly hurt, and I didn't relish sitting on hard wooden seats for the rest of the day. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Brenda (to St J Girl, Scott & others) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 14:48:50 04/11/26 Sat Great responses. Keep them coming! [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Carol [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 07:36:04 04/11/26 Sat I am 35 but I went to a Christian school that paddled K through 12 the public schools ended it before I started kindergarten my parents spanked . In middle and high school I was a Cheerleader the principal and assistant principals and coaches could paddle . We had slabs for getting paddled by a principal or AP eating candy with the principal as cheerleaders my boyfriend now husband was the tight end on the football team they had the same slang . The school used a ping pong paddle but allowed 10 swats but the paddle wasn’t as bad as the traditional school paddle my parents used . [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Alfred22 for Carol [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 07:49:58 04/11/26 Sat Carol, did you mind the ping pong licks? Seems like they would pale in comparison with the traditional school paddle? Did your private schools allow any parents to opt you out of being paddled? Most that I know of make paddling something that all students are eligible for and that enrollment includes parents signing the permission to paddle form. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Carolfor Alfred [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 08:13:01 04/11/26 Sat We got more licks in middle and high school I always got 7 or 8 plus at home 5 or 6 licks from my dad with a school type paddle . You had to agree to corporal punishment to send still do but they had a waiting list still do . My girls go there now 2nd 4 th and 7 th grade . I enjoyed the school involved in other activities not just cheerleading . My husbands parents used a strap a split tail . We got good discipline plus a ping pong paddle is less likely to bruise . [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Brenda (to Carol) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 14:52:04 04/11/26 Sat Did you get paddled in school often? [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: School Paddlings Author: Cliff [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 09:26:17 04/11/26 Sat Was paddling used in your school(s)? Yes, I do not think detention was even an option. The only punishments given out were paddlings, suspensions and expulsions. Were you yourself paddled by a principal, teacher, or other other school staff? Yes, twice by the Elementary School Principal, and once by a new Teacher who made the entire class line up forlicks with the paddle. I don't remember if it was 1 or 2 licks but it did not hurt. I think one of the boys got in line twice. Pretty sure that was the only time I got licks from a teacher. Teachers always paddled in the classroom or sent the student to the Principal. I never remember anyone taken into the hallway for a paddling. Mostly boys, but a few girls were paddled also. Pretty sure my 7th grade Texas History liked paddling the girls. He was never as severe with them but he is the only teacher I know to paddle more girls than boys. Teachers only paddled in grades 1-8. Never knew a teacher to paddle in High School. Coaches could paddle too, but being more sadistic than teachers, they usually came up with other punishments. I think I would rather get swats with a paddle than running up and down the practice field bleachers or bear crawl the length of the practice field. In the 7th Grade, I got one swat from a coach for leaving my helmet out of the locker the evening before. It wasn't that bad but I never failed to secure my gear after that one time. If paddling was allowed, what was a typical number of strokes? Were there rules about how a paddling was conducted (for example, number of strokes)? 3 swats were the maximum. Not sure if it was a written rule or not but the only time I knew anyone to get more,it was my 3rd grade teacher who took a boy, who had her totally fustrated, over her knee and spanked him with a fli-back paddle. He was bawling and it only happened once. Where did you go to school and when? Silsbee Texas, Class of 73. Anything else you'd like to add? While I do not support corporal punishment as the go to choice, Educators had so much more control of the schools than they have today, creating a safer environment for our children. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]