I'm far, far away now. Corporal punishment in the family and school

After a fair amount of digging on the Internet and contacting education workers, we learned that there are still plenty of monsters in the world and there are schools where punishment is much worse than our red paste.

Third World countries

So, Pakistan. Here your child will be required to read the Qur'an for about 8 hours a day, and that's just for being two minutes late to class! Moreover, eyewitnesses say that this rule is so harsh that it applies to everyone, both teachers and children with disabilities. good reason being late.

What can we say about Africa, where the most severe punishments for the most common children's pranks and pranks are still alive. In Namibia, for example, the offender must stand under a tree with a wasp nest for several hours. This is especially true for girls who do not have the right to study at school and sometimes come to look at the boys. It’s called school too for me!

Liberia and Kenya are not far behind. There children are whipped for disobedience.

In Myanmar (for those who don’t know, it’s such a small state near China) it’s even worse. For the most common children's mischief (talking in class, running during recess, mistakes in assignments), the child is hit with a cane on the calves, hands and butt in front of the whole class. For more serious mistakes, schoolchildren are forced to squat with their arms crossed, while the so-called “teacher” pulls his ears.

What about in civilized Europe?

And as scary as it may be, even in more developed countries, corporal punishment is still present. Namely, Great Britain became famous for this. In 2011 conservative party The government lifted the ban on this same corporal punishment in school, citing the fact that the younger generation has become completely unruly and began to live on the Internet.

But in France, for example, a student may get caught because of his parents, who are late to pick up their child from school. They even introduced fines for those who were late picking up their child more than twice. In this case, the baby receives bad behavior.

Germany is more loyal to its new generation. But there is also punishment, which students fear like fire. Summer school. If you have not reached the number of hours of visits, no matter for what reasons, whether illness or something more serious, the school obliges you to attend a special summer school for three weeks every day instead of vacation. educational institution. Naturally, parents pay for this education.

The rest of the world

The Korean education system includes two types of punishment. Individual and group. The first is used in case of minor errors, for unfinished homework or tactless behavior during the lesson. And it consists of hitting the different parts bodies. Teachers who have attended non-traditional Korean lessons claim that the blows are not strong, and after such punishment no one ever cries or complains. Group punishment is when everyone takes responsibility for the mistake of one. Most often, the entire class is forced to stand and hold their hands in the air. Not an easy task, I want to tell you.

For many centuries, Brazilian teachers have used corporal punishment as the most effective punishment for spoiled people. But now the education system in Brazil is humane, and the worst punishment for a misbehavior is a ban on playing football during breaks.

But the Japanese became famous for their sophistication in punishing the future generation. A schoolchild who did not pay attention in class was previously forced to stand with a bowl on his head and keep his leg at right angles to the ground. Now the Japanese regret the past stage and give their children maximum opportunities for personal growth.

Glorious America cannot be ignored. The education system here, in my opinion, is the most complex in the world. After all, there are so many states, so many criteria for evaluating students. In some places, physical abuse of children also occurs: here in Alabama, Georgia, and Arkansas.
It was Alabama that thundered throughout the world when the mother of seven-year-old boy Jonathan Curtis filed a police report about the beating of her son by a teacher. According to the boy, he received numerous injuries and bruises because he looked into the classroom without permission! Moreover, during the investigation of the incident, the director of Jonathan’s school stated that the teacher was right and this punishment was absolutely fair.

But in most cases, as in USA and neighboring Canada, the heaviest punishment is considered to be a ban on a student attending an educational institution for some time. Moreover, if a child was punished because of disobedience during a lesson, parents are obliged to take their offspring to a psychotherapist at this time to understand the reasons for such behavior.

As for Russia and Ukraine, in our country, of course, such absurd methods of education are not common, but there are isolated cases of strange and sometimes cruel punishment of children.

For example, in many domestic schools, students are left without breaks or even answers in class simply because their parents did not sign the teacher’s remark or memo. Once I personally observed a picture of how an experienced 50-year-old teacher with extensive work experience left a second-grader in the office during a walk, only because the mother did not sign the footnote with the grades. And what kind of upbringing is this, you ask?

But the Buchan school No. 5 in the Kyiv region became known throughout the country for such a method of punishment as the “board of shame.” Anyone who was late or came out of uniform was immediately photographed on the spot and posted on a board with offensive inscriptions. This innovation was the initiative of the school director, but, thank God, it did not catch on.

These are the schools of the 21st century. Does anyone else really need to be reminded that every child is a bright individual with precious and fragile inner world? And we, adults, are obliged to protect, develop, love and invest in everyone little man all that is good and correct that we can give. And if suddenly you encounter a cruel and absurd attitude towards children from a school or parents, do not remain silent! Tell us about it, save a life that has just begun!

Physical punishment girls in schools

From Spanking facts & research

Punishment of schoolgirls in the UK

Sectioning was used in various schools in the UK before it was finally banned in state schools by a one-vote vote in Parliament in 1987. The ban, however, did not include public schools, but many of them decided to stop cutting soon themselves. Many mixed schools and almost all schools for girls exempted the latter from canings and any corporal punishment. Some schools continued to use only leather flip-flops for girls. And only no more than ten schools continued to use rods on girls. The palms of the hands or buttocks were hit with a rod.

The Rodney is a comprehensive boarding school in Nottinghamshire, England. Here was the last public scene of the flogging of schoolgirls, since this establishment continued to use the cane after the general ban. In 1998, the school principal whipped several boys, and the principal, Mrs. Joan Thomas, whipped girls. In March 1991, five 11-12 year old girls were caught sneaking into the boys' dormitory at night. The girls' parents confirmed their agreement to choose rods for them as punishment. Mrs. Thomas tied the girls' hands and spanked them on the lower parts. The instigator received a more serious punishment - she was given 7 blows instead of 5, like the others.

In 1984, the Sunday Times published an article about three schoolgirls who were given eight strokes of the cane for their headmistresses with their skirts up. When twelve-year-old girls were asked to choose between expulsion from school and the cane, all three chose the cane.

In 1986, the Telegraph reported on a fourteen-year-old girl at Norwich Girls' Grammar School who was given three strokes of the cane for crunching crisps in class. The account of the flogged girl, Lynnie Simmons, stated that the condemned woman was examined by a doctor before she was stripped and bent over for the flogging.

In 1990, a lawsuit was brought against Nicholson, who was especially biased for 9 years (from 1979 to 1988) of Elizabeth Bondari and her two brothers at Moorlands boarding school. Elizabeth mentioned that "the rod was still used in these years on girls, and also on boys, without their consent." The teacher was acquitted as Elizabeth's brother, Howard, testified: “Through punishment we learned behavior, courtesy, discipline. They didn’t beat us for anything.”

Punishment of schoolgirls in the USA

The wooden spanking is still used occasionally in US schools - but only in the southern states, in the countryside. There, girls are punished in the same way as boys. Even students as young as 16 and 17 can be spanked. A spandrel is a flat piece of wood that varies in shape, length and thickness. Some flip flops have holes to make them more aerodynamic. Spanking is only used on the buttocks.

In 1981 in high school Dunn, North Carolina, seventeen-year-old black Shelley Gasperson received six hard spanks on her buttocks for playing soccer and missing school for six days.

In 1991, fourteen-year-old Renee Lamarque from a school in Texas was punished with five spankings with a piece of wood for systematically being late to school. Renee refused to bend over for punishment, but the teachers called for help - and the girl was held over the table by two more school staff.

In 1996, the mother of student Ann Torbert was called to school in Louisiana because it was simply necessary to punish a 13-year-old girl. Mrs. Torbert eventually agreed that her daughter deserved the punishment and came home after school wearing a thick leather belt. The daughter was given ten good blows to the buttocks with a belt. One of the school principals commented: “I thought that Ann would have been better off taking spankings from us, otherwise mom spanked her with that belt too painfully and for a long time.”

States of America where wooden spankings are still used in schools:

Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, New Mexico, North and South Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.

(Translated from English by Vovchik)

I saved those other passion-faces, namely, a story about corporal punishment at school and at home in England in the 19th century. If you are interested, next time I will write directly about the “English vice”, that is, about sadomasochism in the 19th century. But in the case of the punishments described here, there was no trace of voluntariness. Therefore, all this is simply terrible (and the most creepy cases I still decided not to bring it, even I was shocked).
So...

The study of corporal punishment in 19th century England is somewhat reminiscent of that notorious hospital temperature. If in some families the children were torn like sidorov goats, then in others they didn’t even lay a finger on them. Moreover, when analyzing Victorians' memories of childhood corporal punishment, one must separate the wheat from the chaff. Not all sources that talk about corporal punishment in color and with gusto are reliable. Some are just the fruit of erotic fantasies that bloomed and fragrant in the 19th century (as, indeed, now). This is exactly the kind of work with sources that Ian Gibson did. The fruit of his many years of analysis of memoirs, newspaper articles, legal documents and erotic literature was the book “The English Vice” (English Vice), some chapters of which I will briefly retell here. Although the author's conclusions, especially regarding the etiology of sadomasochism, may seem controversial, his historiography of corporal punishment in the 19th century is quite convincing.

When justifying the use of corporal punishment against children and criminals, the British of the 19th century often referred to the Bible. Of course, not for those episodes where Christ preached love for one’s neighbor and asked the apostles to let children come to him. The proponents of spanking liked the Proverbs of Solomon much more. Among other things, it contains the following maxims:

He who spares his rod hates his son; and whoever loves punishes him from childhood. (23:24)
Punish your son while there is hope, and do not be indignant at his cry. (19:18)
Do not leave the young man unpunished: if you punish him with a rod, he will not die; you will punish him with a rod and save his soul from hell. (23: 13 - 14)
Stupidity has become attached to the young man's heart, but the rod of correction will remove it from him. (22:15).

All the arguments that the parables of Solomon should not be taken so literally, and that the rod mentioned there is perhaps some kind of metaphorical rod, and not a bunch of rods, were ignored by supporters of corporal punishment. For example, in 1904, Vice Admiral Penrose Fitzgerald entered into a controversy with playwright George Bernard Shaw, a fierce opponent of corporal punishment. The bone of contention was punishment in the navy. The admiral, as usual, bombarded Shaw with quotes from Solomon. To this, Shaw replied that he had thoroughly studied the biography of the sage, as well as the relationships in his family. The picture was sad: towards the end of his life, Solomon himself fell into idolatry, and his well-flogged son was never able to preserve his father’s lands. According to the show, Solomon's example is precisely the best argument against putting his principles into practice.

In addition to Proverbs, supporters of spanking had another favorite saying - “Spare the rod and spoil the child.” Few people knew where she even came from. It was believed that it came from somewhere in the Bible. A lot of things are written there. Surely this saying has gotten around too. Somewhere. In fact, this is a quote from Samuel Butler's satirical poem Hudibras, published in 1664. In one episode, a lady demands a knight to accept a spanking as a test of his love. In principle, there is nothing strange about this; the ladies never mocked the knights. But the scene itself is quite piquant. After persuasion, the lady tells the knight the following: “Love is a boy, by poets styled / Then spare the rod and spoil the child” (Love is a boy, created by poets / If you spare the rod, you will spoil the child). In this context, the mention of flogging is more likely associated with erotic games and, probably, with a parody of religious flagellants. At least the idea itself is presented in a mocking manner. Who would have thought that stern, educated men would quote these humorous verses?

At home these gentlemen did not hesitate to follow Solomon's instructions as they understood them. Moreover, while in working-class families parents could simply attack a child with their fists, children from the middle class were decorously flogged with rods. Canes, hairbrushes, slippers, and so on could be used as instruments of punishment, depending on parental ingenuity. Children often suffered from nannies and governesses. Not in every house were governesses allowed to beat their pupils - some in such cases called on their fathers for help - but where they were allowed, they could be truly fierce. For example, a certain Lady Anne Hill recalled her first nanny this way: “One of my brothers still remembers how she put me on her lap when I was still wearing a long shirt (then I was at most 8 months old) and with all her strength hit me on the bottom with a hairbrush. This continued as I got older." Lord Curzon's nanny was a real sadist: she once ordered the boy to write a letter to the butler asking him to prepare a rod for him, and then asked the butler to read this letter in front of all the servants in the servants' room.

The real scandal involving the cruel governess broke out in 1889. In English newspapers there were often advertisements like “A bachelor with two sons is looking for a strict governess who does not disdain spanking” and further in the same cheerful spirit. For the most part, this is how sadomasochists had fun in an era when there were no chat rooms or forums of a specific focus. Imagine the surprise of Times readers when one of these advertisements turned out to be genuine!

A certain Mrs. Walter from Clifton offered her services in raising and training unruly girls. She also offered brochures on the education of young people, at a shilling apiece. The editor of the Times newspaper, where the ad was published, persuaded his friend to contact the mysterious Mrs. Walter. It was interesting to find out exactly how she educates young people. A resourceful lady wrote that her young daughter was completely out of control and asked for advice. The teacher took the bait. Providing her full name - Mrs. Walter Smith - she offered to take the girl to her school for 100 pounds a year and treat her properly there. Moreover, she was ready to show letters of recommendation from the clergy, aristocrats, and high military officials. Along with the answer, Mrs. Smith also sent a brochure in which she described her method of influencing uncontrollable girls. Moreover, she described so colorfully that in the absence of other income, she could write sadomasochistic novels and rake in money with a shovel. What a pity that this particular idea did not knock on her mind!

The journalist decided to meet her in person. During the interview, Mrs. Smith - a tall and strong lady - said that there were twenty-year-old girls in her academy, and a couple of weeks ago she gave one of them 15 blows with a rod. If necessary, the teacher could come to the house. For example, to those individuals who needed a dose of English education, and the echidna mothers could not organize a spanking for them on their own. A sort of Terminator lady. Being a punctual lady, she wrote down all her meetings in a notebook. She charged 2 guineas per appointment. Apparently, among her clients there were many real masochists.

As soon as Mrs. Smith's interview was published, a flood of letters poured into the editor. The loudest screams were those ladies and gentlemen whom the good governess mentioned among her guarantors. It turned out that Mrs. Smith was the widow of a pastor, the former headmaster of All Saints School in Clifton (as for spanking, her husband probably showed her a master class more than once). After his death, Mrs. Smith decided to open a school for girls and asked her friends for letters of recommendation. They happily agreed. Then everyone as one assured that they did not know and did not know about Mrs. Smith’s educational methods. The grocer Mrs. Clapp, who, judging by the brochure, supplied her with rods, latex suits, gags, and fluffy pink handcuffs, disowned her. Thus, although many Englishmen supported flogging, no one wanted to get involved with such a scandalous and frankly indecent story. And spanking girls was not treated with the same enthusiasm as spanking boys.

Corporal punishment was common both at home and in schools. It is not easy to find a medieval engraving depicting a school where the teacher did not hold an armful of rods in his hands. It seems that the entire educational process boiled down to spanking. In the 19th century, things were not much better. The main arguments in favor of school spanking were that:

1) Solomon bequeathed to us
2) schoolchildren were always beaten and nothing, so many generations of gentlemen have grown up
3) we have such a good tradition, and we, the British, love traditions
4) I also got bullied at school and it’s okay, I sit in the House of Lords
5) if there are 600 boys in a school, then you can’t have a heart-to-heart talk with everyone - it’s easier to tear one out so that others are afraid
6) with boys it’s generally impossible
7) what do you propose, humanists-pacifists-socialists? A? Well, shut up then!

Students from elite educational institutions were beaten much harder and more often than those who attended school in their home village. A special case was workhouses and reform schools for young offenders, where conditions were absolutely terrible. Commissions inspecting such institutions, as well as prison schools, mentioned various abuses, such as overly heavy canes, as well as thorn rods.

Despite the assurances of pornographers, girls in English schools In the 19th century, they flogged much less often than boys. At least this applies to girls from the middle class and above. The situation was somewhat different in schools for the poor and orphanages. According to a report from 1896, reform schools for girls used rods, canes, and thongs. For the most part, girls were beaten on the arms or shoulders; only in some cases were the pupils' pantaloons removed. I remember an episode from Charlotte Bronte’s novel “Jane Eyre”:

“Burns immediately left the class and went to the closet where the books were kept and from where she came out half a minute later, holding a bunch of rods in her hands. She handed this instrument of punishment to Miss Scatcherd with a respectful curtsey, then calmly, without waiting for orders, took off her apron, and the teacher struck her painfully with the rod several times on her bare neck. Not a single tear appeared in Burns's eyes, and although I was forced to put down my sewing at the sight of her, my fingers trembling with a feeling of helpless and bitter anger, her face retained its usual expression of gentle thoughtfulness.
- Stubborn girl! - exclaimed Miss Scatcherd. - Apparently, nothing can fix you! Slob! Take away the rods!
Burns obediently followed the order. When she came out of the closet again, I looked at her closely: she was hiding a handkerchief in her pocket, and on her thin cheek there was a trace of an erased tear.”

One of the most prestigious schools in England, if not the most prestigious, in the 19th century was Eton, a boarding school for boys founded in the 15th century. Eton College embodied the harsh English upbringing. Depending on the amount of knowledge, students were assigned to the Junior or Senior Division (Lower/Upper School). If the boys previously studied with a tutor or went through a preparatory school, they ended up in the Senior Department. The Junior School usually enrolled students who had not yet reached 12. Sometimes it happened that an adult boy ended up in the Junior Department, which was especially humiliating. Upon entering college, the student fell under the tutelage of a tutor, in whose apartment he lived and under whose supervision he studied. The mentor was one of the teachers at the college and supervised an average of 40 students. Parents resolved the issue of payment directly with the mentor.

Since the mentor actually acted as a guardian in relation to the student, he also had the right to punish him. To carry out punishments, teachers turned to older students for help. So, in the 1840s, there were only 17 teachers for 700 students at Eton, so prefects were simply necessary. Thus, the older students could officially beat the younger ones. Naturally, the matter did not involve sanctioned floggings; hazing also took place. One of the Eton graduates later recalled how a senior student once began to beat his friend right during dinner, hitting him in the face and head, while the rest of the senior students continued to eat as if nothing had happened. There were a great many such incidents.

In addition, there was a quasi-feudal system, the so-called fagging. A student from the lower grades entered into the service of a high school student - he brought him breakfast and tea, lit the fireplace and, if necessary, could run to the tobacco shop, although such escapades were punishable by severe flogging. Ideally, this relationship resembled that of a lord and a vassal. In exchange for services, the high school student had to protect his subordinate. But no one has abolished childhood cruelty, so older students very often took out their grievances on the younger ones. Moreover, quite a few grievances accumulated. Life at Eton was not easy even for high school students. Even 18- to 20-year-old boys, in fact, young men, tomorrow's graduates, could be flogged. For them, the punishment was especially humiliating given its public nature.

How did corporal punishment work at Eton? If a teacher complained about one of the students to the director of the college or the head of the Junior Department, depending on the student’s department, the name of the offender was included in a special list. At the appointed hour, the student was called for a spanking. Each department had a spanking block (among the students it was considered chic to steal it, as well as the rod, and hide it somewhere). The unfortunate man knelt down near the log and leaned over it. At Eton they always spanked my bare buttocks, so I had to take off my trousers too. Two students stood near the person being punished, turned his shirt up and held him during the spanking. In other words, punishments at Eton were ritualized, which turned on masochists like Swinburne like valerian to a cat.

As for the Eton rods, they struck fear into the hearts of students. They resembled a broom with a meter-long handle and a bunch of thick rods at the end. The director's servant prepared the rods, bringing a whole dozen to school every morning. Sometimes he had to replenish his supply during the day. It’s scary to think how many trees were tormented by this. For ordinary offenses, the student received 6 strokes; for more serious offenses, their number increased. Depending on the force of the blow, blood could appear on the skin, and the marks from the flogging did not go away for weeks. The rod was the symbol of Eton, but in 1911 Headmaster Lyttelton committed sacrilege - he abolished the rod in the Senior Division, replacing it with a cane. Former Eton students were horrified and vying with each other to claim that education was now good for the dog down the drain. They simply could not imagine their own school without rods!

Executions in the Senior Division were carried out in the director's office, also known as the library. However, both in the Junior and Senior Divisions, executions were public. Any of the students could attend them. This, in fact, was the effect of the flogging - to scare as many people as possible in one fell swoop. Another thing is that Etonians often came to floggings as if it were a show, rather to gloat than to grumble. However, the students, who had never been whipped at home, were shocked by such a spectacle. But they soon got used to it. Judging by the memoirs of graduates, over time they ceased to be afraid or even ashamed of spanking. To bear it without shouting was a kind of bravado.

When sending their sons to Eton, parents knew full well that their offspring could not avoid being spanked. Many were Eton graduates themselves and believed that the rod only benefited them. In this regard, the incident of Mr. Morgan Thomas from Sussex in the 1850s is interesting. When his Eton son turned 14, Mr Thomas declared that from now on he should not be flogged. At his age, this punishment is too humiliating. He told his son this privately; the college administration knew nothing about these instructions. Young Thomas lasted four years without serious violations. But when he turned 18, the young man was suspected of smoking and sentenced to corporal punishment. It was then that he revealed to his mentor that his father had strictly forbidden him to obey the Eton rules in this case. The director did not write to the student's father - he simply expelled young Thomas for disobedience. Mr Thomas then launched a press campaign to abolish corporal punishment at Eton. After all, according to an act of parliament of 1847, it was forbidden to flog criminals over 14 years of age (throughout the 19th century, these rules changed, becoming softer and harsher). But if the law spared the fillets of young offenders, then why was it possible to flog 18-year-old gentlemen for such minor offenses? Unfortunately, the angry father never achieved anything.

Other scandals involving school violence have erupted from time to time. For example, in 1854, a head boy at Harrow School gave another student 31 strokes of his cane, causing the boy to require medical attention. This incident was trumpeted in The Times, but the scandal did not entail any consequences. The school's principal, Dr. Charles Vaughan, was an ardent supporter of spanking, and former students recalled school punishments with trepidation. It was not until 1859, after 15 years in this position, that he was finally asked to resign. Not because of savage education methods, but because Vaughan showed excessive attention to some students. The director's pederasty was the last straw. In 1874, Reverend Moss, headmaster of Shrewsberry School, gave a student 88 lashes with a rod. According to a doctor who examined the boy 10 days after the incident, his body was still covered with scars. The most incredible thing is that the Times readers learned about the director’s cruelty from his own letter! Frustrated, Moss wrote to the newspaper, complaining that the boy's father had spread the word about the punishment to the entire neighborhood. It's like something serious happened! It's a common thing. Of course, the director was not removed from his position, they were only asked to continue to take public opinion into account and not punish students so harshly.

Christ's Hospital boarding school in London was a real hell on earth. After 12-year-old student William Gibbs hanged himself in 1877, unable to withstand the bullying, the school came to the attention of Parliament. It turned out that from eight in the evening to eight in the morning none of the teachers did not look after the pupils. Power was concentrated in the hands of the prefects, i.e. the older students, and they did what they wanted. William Gibbs had a conflict with one of the prefects. The boy had already run away from school once, but he was returned and severely whipped And when the second escape was unsuccessful, William chose suicide over another flogging. The doctor’s verdict was “suicide in a state of temporary insanity.” The rules at school remained the same.

Finally, I would like to quote a poignant passage from the memoirs of George Orwell. At the age of 8 he entered St. Cyprian's Preparatory School. The task preparatory schools was to train boys to enter prestigious educational institutions, including Eton. Part of this training included regular corporal punishment. In the excerpt below, little George was called to the headmaster to be whipped for a serious offense - he wet the bed in his sleep.

« When I arrived, Flip was doing something at a long polished table in the hallway of the office. Her searching eyes examined me carefully. Mr. Wilkes, nicknamed Sambo, was waiting for me in the office. Sambo was a stooped, clumsy man, small but waddling, round-faced, looking like a huge baby, usually in good location spirit. Of course, he already knew why I came to him, and had already taken a horseman’s whip with a bone handle from the closet, but part of the punishment was to loudly announce my offense. When I did this, he gave me a short but pompous lecture, after which he grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, bent me over, and began to beat me with a rider's whip. It was his habit to continue reading the notation while beating; I remembered the words “you dirty boy”, spoken in time with the beats. It didn’t hurt me (probably he didn’t hit me very hard, since it was the first time), and I left the office feeling much better. The fact that I didn't feel any pain after the spanking was in a sense a victory, erasing some of the shame of wetting the bed. Perhaps, inadvertently, I even allowed myself to smile. Several younger boys were gathered in the corridor in front of the hallway door.
- Well, how did you get spanked?
“It didn’t even hurt,” I answered proudly.
Flip heard everything. Immediately I heard her scream addressed to me.
- Well, come here! Immediately! What you said?
“I said it didn’t hurt me,” I stammered.
- How dare you say that! Do you think this is decent? APPEAR INTO YOUR OFFICE AGAIN.
This time Sambo really came at me. The spanking continued for an amazingly, terribly long time - about five minutes - and ended with the rider's whip breaking and the bone handle flying across the room.
- You see what you forced me to do! - he told me angrily, picking up the broken whip.
I fell into a chair, whimpering pitifully. I remember this was the only time in my entire childhood when beating brought me to tears, and even now I was not crying because of pain. And this time it didn’t hurt me particularly. Fear and shame had an analgesic effect. I cried partly because it was expected of me, partly because sincere repentance, and partly from a deep bitterness that is difficult to describe in words, but which is inherent in childhood: a feeling of abandoned loneliness and helplessness, a feeling that you find yourself not just in a hostile world, but in a world of good and evil with rules that are impossible to follow.”

Corporal punishment in English public schools, as well as in private schools receiving government subsidies, banned in 1987. In the remaining private schools, corporal punishment was abolished even later - in 1999 in England and Wales, in 2000 in Scotland, and in 2003 in Northern Ireland. In some US states, corporal punishment is still allowed in schools.

Cupid's punishment is a common subject in painting. Actually, the saying Spare the rod and spoil the child is most likely associated with this plot.

Punishment at school

Painting by the German artist Hansenklever “First Day at School” - the boy found himself, as they say, in the midst of fun.

Very often in newspapers of the 19th century you can find descriptions of vice in boarding houses for girls. Judging by the shocked reviews of other readers, most of These stories are a figment of fantasy. But pornographers were inspired by these fantasies.

Whipping bench for juvenile offenders at Clerkenwell Prison

Deck and rod at Eton

Eton rod

Eton rods (left) compared to the common school rods. What can I say? The offspring of wealthy families received a better, more English education.

Etonian in the 20th century

You can often hear from representatives of the older generation that modern youth need to be flogged. But both children and adults have little idea what kind of punishment this is and how it was carried out.

What does "whipping with rods" mean?

This concept is absolutely transparent and has no double meaning. To whip with rods means to strike soft parts with a bunch of rods. Usually this method was used as a punishment for a crime. This procedure had several purposes. Firstly, the physical pain inflicted was supposed to instill in children the fear of punishment, and therefore prevent them from committing new pranks. Secondly, the psychological factor is also very important. Flogging with rods is not only painful, but also shameful. This was especially true when the punishment procedure took place in the presence of other children, for example, playmates or classmates. left an indelible mark and hurt the child’s pride.

This method of education was very popular in England. There they flogged people with rods both at home and at school. This tradition continues in our time, but only in certain communities.

For some reason, it is a very common opinion that it was our country that became the progenitor of this cruel and even somewhat barbaric method of punishment. However, this is fundamentally wrong. Research by historians proves that rods were used in many countries, including developed European ones.

This method even has its own Latin name - “flagellation”. If you look at the art of different countries, you can see this French engraving. The painting shows a cozy living room. The head of the family was sitting in an armchair in front of the fireplace, reading the Bible. Standing nearby is his wife, who is preparing rods to flog her daughter. A ten-year-old girl nearby is crying and

How they flogged people with rods in the old days

Historically, this method of punishment developed a long time ago. Children were flogged with rods not only for committing indecent acts, but also just like that, for the purpose of prevention, or, more simply, “to be discouraging.”

If we look at more ancient times, women often received punishment for various offenses. So, in Ancient Egypt they were often whipped for adultery. With the advance in the European world Christian faith Beating women began to be regarded as an immoral act, and gradually it was used less and less.

In Great Britain, representatives of the fair sex were flogged in prisons. It happened approximately as follows. The woman was brought to a room specially designated for this type of punishment. It contained a wide and long bench equipped with straps for tying hands and feet. The woman was read a sentence, which stated in detail why she would be beaten. After this, the culprit had to lie down on the bench with her stomach down. Her hands and feet were tightly tied, making it practically impossible for her to move. Then the process of punishment itself began. Heartbreaking screams and pleas for help were heard. They flogged me cruelly at that time. After this, the woman was taken to her cell; very often the unfortunates were taken there in an unconscious state.

Under Queen Elizabeth of England, floggings were, as a rule, public. Flagellation took place in the prison yard on specially equipped platforms. The area did not allow to accommodate everyone who wanted to be present at the punishment.

What are rods?

The answer to this question can be given by studying the historical works of teachers of past centuries. Rods are rods of various types of wood. The most commonly used are hazel, willow, redwood, and tarmarin. The twigs are tied into bundles of three to five branches (if birch is used). If harder types of wood are taken, then one branch can be used. Each twig must be at least 60 centimeters long and no less than half a finger thick. The ends of the rods must be split after soaking so that there are no overlaps. In the old days, this option was called “velvet”, since marks on the body disappeared very quickly - from three to five days. Of course, if it was necessary to flog children for disobedience, the most soft rocks tree. They could not cause serious damage to delicate skin.

Preparing the instrument of punishment

There is absolutely reliable information about how the selection of high-quality spanking instruments was carried out. To do this, the rods were soaked for several hours (or better yet, two to three days) in normal running water. There is also information that in order to cause much greater suffering to the victim, the rods were placed in a salty solution for some time.

Then the spanking caused severe pain, which then could not go away for a long time. The birth of such sophisticated technology goes back to Ancient Greece. It was there that the guilty were flogged with rods. The philosopher and historian Homer talks about such cases in his works.

How was it necessary to flog with rods correctly?

It turns out that flagellation is not as simple as it seems at first glance. There were certain rules preparation of weapons for it, as well as the technique of striking. How to whip with rods? The main rule was the need to measure your strength. The person had to experience severe physical pain, but not be left mutilated. The scars were not supposed to remain on the body forever. Therefore, the person who carried out the flagellation had to control the force of his blow.

Modernity

Of course, the time of cruel punishments is irrevocably gone. In modern times, such a method as beating with rods, or flagellation, is practically not used. Although sometimes there are cases of demonstrative beatings in order to prove their position.

Corporal punishment was used in schools in many parts of the world, but in recent decades it has been banned in most countries around the world. But they still remain common in many African countries. South-East Asia and in the Middle East.

One of the countries where parents of their children strive to send to receive good education and education - Great Britain. Corporal punishment was first mentioned in an English school in the seventh century AD. Monk Edmire wrote that in the first “grammar school” founded at Canterbury Abbey, “Five days before Christmas, all the boys were traditionally flogged with whips made of ox skins tied into a knot...”. For the slightest offense: for a blot, a mistake in pronunciation, wrong result in mathematics, school students could be punished with flogging.

It cannot be said that they always endured punishment without complaint. They rebelled, but their actions were harshly suppressed by flogging. True, there were rare exceptions. Thus, in 1851, the famous Marlborough College rebelled, as a result of which the cruel rector resigned, and the new young and progressive who came to his place became the first teacher in Britain who legalized organized games for schoolchildren as an alternative to fights and hooligan antics. Until that time, games were banned in most schools. The revolutionary innovations of Marlborough College did not end there: much later, it was this school that was the first to demand a ban on the disciplinary caning of younger students by older ones - in other words, it demanded the abolition of legalized “hazing” in school barracks.

In English schools, not only the whip was used as a means of punishment, but also the very way of life in boarding schools, especially in theological schools. Here is a brief description of the morals of one of the bursas of the last century: “Never go out of the gate alone; do not talk during lunch; do not leave a single crumb on the plate; wear clothes without any ornament, color or other decorations,” etc. and so on. In fairness, it should be noted that it was customary to raise with a stick not only the children of ordinary citizens who studied in state free schools, but also the offspring of the privileged class who studied in elite private boarding schools.

In the twentieth century, when education became joint for boys and girls, for reasons of decency, demonstrative punishment with a belt or rods moved to the offices of class teachers or mentors (depending on the gender of the offenders); in the classroom, “light” punishments began to be practiced, such as hitting the fingers with a ruler.

In public educational institutions in England, corporal punishment was practiced from the mid-nineteenth century until 1987, but in private schools executions were formally allowed until very recently. It is curious that only at the end of the twentieth century, the British Ministry of Education, by its resolution, abolished any corporal punishment in all schools in the kingdom without exception, with a margin of only three votes.

A 2008 survey of British teachers, more than 20 years after corporal punishment was banned in public schools, found that one in five teachers wanted to reintroduce the use of the cane in extreme cases. And many Britons, according to a government study, believe that the abolition of corporal punishment in schools has become a significant factor in the overall deterioration in children's behavior.

IN different countries The abolition of corporal punishment occurred over a long period of time: Poland became the first European country to ban it in 1783, in the Netherlands the ban on corporal punishment has existed since 1920,and in Canada - since 2004.In theory, all Council of Europe member states have now taken steps to end corporal punishment in schools. In many countries, they have also been abolished in all other educational institutions and alternative after-school groups, regardless of whether they have public, private or public-voluntary status. But in Israel, corporal punishment in any form is strictly prohibited by the Supreme Court of Israel. A landmark court decision dated January 25, 2000, made any physical punishment, including even a “light blow to the buttocks or arm,” by parents a criminal offense punishable by two years in prison. With this decision, the court strengthened previous precedent decisions in the same spirit from 1994 and 1998

Caning and other humiliating forms of punishment that are prohibited by law in public schools are still practiced in several countries around the world. Many schools Singapore and Malaysia, like some Africancountries use caning (for boys) as a common official punishment for bad behavior. In some countriesMiddle Eastin such cases, flagellation is used.

In India there is no school corporal punishment in the Western sense. By definition, school corporal punishment " should not be confused with ordinary beatings, when a teacher attacks a student in a sudden outburst of rage, which is not corporal punishment, but cruelty»". Supreme Court of India has banned this type of cruelty in schools since 2000, but enforcement has been slow.

In the USA, the situation with corporal punishment in schools is as follows: individual US states have the power to ban it. In 1867 New Jersey became the first American state to ban corporal punishment in schools. The second was Massachusetts 104 years later, in 1971. The last state to ban school corporal punishment was in 2009. Ohio.

Currently, such punishments are prohibited in public schools in 30 states. . IN The 20 states that do not prohibit corporal punishment are located mainly in the south of the country. Private schools in most states are free from this prohibition and can choose as an instrument of education a wooden paddle specially made for this purpose. Basically, these are Christian evangelical or fundamentalist schools . Most public schools have detailed rules by which such ceremonies are conducted, and in some cases these rules are printed in the school handbook for students and their parents..

Many schools offer parents the opportunity to allow or prohibit corporal punishment on their sons or daughters. Typically, parents complete the appropriate formal document at school office. Many school departments do not use such punishments unless parents expressly authorize them. In others, on the contrary, students are punished corporally unless parents expressly prohibit it.

One argument against corporal punishment is that some studies have shown it is not as effective at managing student behavior as its proponents believe. These studies link corporal punishment to a range of adverse physical, psychological and educational outcomes, including "increased aggressiveness and disruptive behavior, increased disruptive behavior in the classroom, vandalism, school reluctance, inattention, increased dropout rates, school avoidance and fear of school, low self-esteem, fearfulness, physical illness, depression, suicide, and teacher retaliation ».

Anti-spanking campaign Center for Effective Discipline, based on federal statistics, estimates the number of students spanked or paddled in 2006 in U.S. public schools at approximately 223,000. Statistics show that black and Hispanic students are paddled at higher rates than white students.

Opponents of corporal punishment in the United States are fighting for its complete ban, but attempts to pass a corresponding law at the federal level have not yet brought success. For the last 14 years, on the initiative of the Center for Effective Discipline, April 30 has been celebrated in the United States as a “day without spanking.”

IN conducted juvenile justice in Western countries generally prohibits any punishment of the child. But, on the other hand, freedom in European countries is introducing into secondary schools a system of sex education for students, which essentially consists of a naturalistic description of sexual relations, including homosexual ones. At the same time, the program is aimed not so much at high school students, but at young children.

IN scientific research, conducted by prof. Yu.V. Pylnev ("History of public education in the Voronezh region. The end of the 17th - beginning of the 20th century." Kaliningrad, Axios, 2012) provides examples of punishment in educational institutions of pre-revolutionary Russia.

“Following the old days, the gymnasium authorities firmly believed in the saving power of the rod, although frequent experience should, it seems, disabuse him of this. This punishment brought some disastrous results: irritating some to the point of unnatural bitterness and hatred in a child and awakening desperate determination in him, in others it suppressed all shame and obviously corrupted their moral sense. The same can be said about other punishments, invented by short-sighted, but long-armed teachers" (A. Afanasyev. "People-Artist", M., 1986)

Children remained defenseless against the punishment system. Very few decided to protest, and the majority of schoolchildren patiently waited for the end of their studies.

What punishments were applied and for what offenses? This is what follows from an extract from the fine register of gymnasium students and boarding school students, which indicates only the types of penalties imposed in 1851.

Rods:

appropriation of other people's things;

exchanging books without permission;

laziness, poor success in science;

avoidance of classes, absence from the box office;

smoking tobacco;

drunkenness;

a fight in the classroom, a fight with students of the district school on the street;

father's deception;

immodesty in class, whistling in class.

Punishment cell:

inaccurate performance of the duties of a senior (3 days);

inaccurate performance of student duties;

laziness, stubborn laziness (for a holiday);

rudeness to the teacher, insolence (for bread and water for 3 days);

smoking tobacco (for 1 day), making cigarettes, having tobacco and a pipe in your pocket (for 1 day), having tobacco in the apartment;

indecent and impudent treatment of elementary school students;

anger against a partner;

late walks, unauthorized absence from the city (for 1 day and on your knees for 3 days); being punished, he left, being taken to the punishment cell, he said that he would have left if he had not been locked up (for the whole day);

unconsciousness of the offense, noise, etc.; having taken out the ticket, he said another number;

sending for wine and drinking wine at the boarding house, drinking vodka at the boarding house;

not going to church for mass;

making an indecent image on a book;

closing the shutters in the classroom, reading a novel in the classroom (on a holiday);

throwing an overcoat into the mud and refusing to pick it up, cutting up a bench (until 6 pm);

non-compliance with clothing.

Other punishments were also used, such as kneeling, being left without a seat in class, and reprimanding, mainly for being lazy. As a severe punishment - dismissal from the gymnasium. As you can see, the main punishment was for laziness and violation of discipline. Despite the severity with regard to misconduct, discipline in district schools was lame.

TO There was no scale of penalties depending on the offenses. The measure and degree of punishment were determined by the teacher at his discretion and immediately. The rude morals that reigned in society were equally characteristic of both teachers and students, causing mutual embitterment.

But theological schools were particularly harsh in their corporal punishment of students. The seminarians were flogged mercilessly. This was artistically vividly and historically accurately described in “Essays on the Bursa” by N. G. Pomyalovsky (1835-1863), who, while studying at church school he himself was punished 400 times and even asked himself the question: “Am I crossed or not yet?”

In Russia, physical punishment in Russian schools was completely abolished in 1917. From the very beginning, official Soviet pedagogy considered corporal punishment of children, regardless of their gender and age, unacceptable and unacceptable. Even during the war years, when problems of school discipline, especially in boys' schools, became extremely acute, they were strictly prohibited.

This is what was written about the application of punishments in the instructions developed by the Department of Primary and Secondary Schools based on the order People's Commissariat Education of the RSFSR No. 205 of March 21, 1944 “On strengthening discipline in school.”

“.... rewards and punishments are considered as means of education, used only in combination with others, while the moral influence of the personality of the teacher himself is given decisive importance..... Teachers must have reasonable severity and exactingness, the teacher himself must be consistent to end and actually strive with all patience and persistence to ensure that the demands are fulfilled. In case of daring antics of a student, in case of rudeness and other major violations of discipline, the teacher has the right to express his indignation by raising his voice, but without shouting. You should always speak to students in such a way that the teacher’s words convey dignity.

In primary, seven-year and secondary schools, the following punishments are allowed: a reprimand from the teacher, a reprimand in front of the class, ordering the offender to stand up, removal from the class, leaving after lessons, reducing the behavioral score, calling for indoctrination to the Pedagogical Council, expulsion from school (temporarily - for no more than three weeks, for a period of one to three years), assignment to a school with a special regime.

The assignment of punishment is made by the teacher, the head. educational part, the director and the Pedagogical Council, depending on the severity of the student’s offense and the conditions that caused it. ... it is necessary to observe an individual approach to students: take into account the age of the student, the general nature of his behavior before committing this offense, whether the offense was committed for the first time or repeatedly, accidentally or intentionally, what are the consequences of the offense, does the offense affect one student or a whole group of students, is there the student’s repentance, feelings of grief and shame, whether there was a voluntary confession or concealment, etc.”

Types of punishments at school: removal from classes, detention after classes as a punishment for being late for classes, for missing classes for unexcusable reasons, deduction of behavioral scores (a very severe punishment), temporary exclusion from school for a period of not more than two weeks, expulsion from school for a period of one to three years and sending the student to a school with a special regime are extreme measures of punishment. In addition to the application of the above punishments, the teacher, class teacher, head. educational department, the director (head) of the school, the student’s behavior can be discussed in student organizations. It is very important for every teacher to have the ability to find in any student the good side, and, evoking a sense of dignity and honor in the pupil, rely on positive features his character in order to help him overcome shortcomings in his behavior.

However, in practice these norms were not applied everywhere and not always. Although there was not and could not be a full-scale “ritual” spanking in Soviet schools, slaps, pinches and spanks were handed out by teachers and educators quite often (military instructors and physical education instructors were especially guilty of this). Much depended on the features educational institution, the student’s social background and whether the parents were ready to protect him.

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