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Spare the rod, ruin the child?
Being taught under the shadow of violence
Thankfully, it’s a thing of the past. Teachers no longer beat children. Violence is no longer an integral part of education. The tradition regarding the acquisition of knowledge linked with adult aggression has been broken for many years. I guess, I was one of the last generations where adults abusing children was a normal part of school life.
A ban on corporal punishment in English schools came in 1986. The private sector followed thirteen years later. For many children and young parents today it seems hardly believable that this used to happen. Indeed was widespread across practically all schools.
Because of this the school experiences of my children were fundamentally different to my own. As for my grandchildren… amazingly teachers today appear to respect the children they teach, and actually seem to like them.
Wow! Imagine that!
As violence in the classroom goes, I guess I was quite lucky. I had the odd knuckle rapped on my head, like my skull was a fucking door or something about to open; the ear being stretched and pulled so dragging the rest of my reluctant body behind it; and then the ubiquitous boxing of the ears, normally delivered as a cowardly sneak attack from behind with the flat of the hand and considerable…
