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This entry was posted on January 23, 2018 at 1:10 pm and is filed under photo. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
January 23, 2018 at 1:11 pm
Max Brooks quote
January 23, 2018 at 1:21 pm
I’m naming names – Denys Straker, a teacher at Downsend School in Leatherhead Surrey who through the generations, from my Uncle Paul to me, pleasured himself by handing out uncontrolled violence to young boys. He would mercilessly beat a child for a wrong answer and return frequently to a targeted youngster for more excitement.
Of course, in the 40s/50s/60s there was no one to protect the child. The parent believed corporal punishment was justly metered out
His name was Denys Straker. Hope its warm where he is resting
January 23, 2018 at 1:37 pm
My Dear Hedley,
I don’t even know Denys Straker, but I too am hoping it is ever so warm where he currently resides. How horrible to have to face him every day.
Nuns scared me and they never hit us. They just stared. That was enough.
January 23, 2018 at 1:58 pm
Kat, Straker is, fortunately long gone. What is amazing is that for years he was able to deal with children primarily with violence. When I discussed this with my Uncle Paul, who had been to the same school 25 years earlier, it was the exact same experience.
You will not be shocked to know that I was caned by Mother Superior at St Andrews Convent School for inappropriate singing outside Father’s door.
Perhaps my favorite was Mark and I at the age of 6 slipped under all the partitions in the girls bathrooms at St Andrews and locked them all from inside. No-one knew it was us so when the posse of nuns appeared in our classroom demanding that the perpetrators came forward and offering amnesty (yea right) Mark and I remained safe.
January 23, 2018 at 5:59 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Only a nun would think that guilt makes the perps talk. I too would have said nothing.
I assumed he was gone from your warm comment. I guessed it was a veiled reference to hell.
Why did parents not complain? Beating kids is way, way over the line from appropriate behavior for a teacher.
The nuns got away with everything. It was no use complaining as to most parents the nun was always right and kids, by their very natures, were wrong. What did you do was the usual question.
No, I was not at all shocked!
January 23, 2018 at 1:32 pm
12 years of Catholic School and never once struck. Not even with the infamous ruler. The preferred method amongst the Sinsinawa Dominicans was to shatter your hopes, dreams, and any sense of self-worth.
January 23, 2018 at 1:42 pm
John,
I spent 11 years in Catholic school (none on the Cape when I moved here), and I too was never struck. The nuns often stared, and that was scary. Sister Hildegarde resorted to screaming and comparing us to the devil. She said she’d thank god when we were gone. Sister Redempta was my first grade teacher. She was a grabber. She’d take an arm and move us to the front of the classroom where she’d berate and yell. I remember it happened to a classmate who was so scared he/she peed in class.
January 23, 2018 at 8:40 pm
We were talking about the Blues Brothers movie a couple days ago. You may not recall but they had a vision from God to save the Catholic orphanage they were from.
January 23, 2018 at 9:00 pm
Spaceman,
I had forgotten that, but you did jog my memories.
That nun wields a scary ruler.
January 23, 2018 at 11:58 pm
Funny as all get out. She whacks them for cussing, they cus more because of getting whacked. Repeat repeat repeat. It’s been a long time since I watched it, but many scenes are very memorable. Cab Calloway, Carrie Fisher. I’m going to have to rewatch. Animal House humor.
January 24, 2018 at 11:47 am
Spaceman,
Every time they cussed and got whacked I laughed. They were doomed from the start. That nun was just too nice in the beginning. I would have been leery.
January 23, 2018 at 8:01 pm
Spare the rod and spoil the child is a gross misquote of the bible. Unfortunately, educators and parents both were wrong involving corporal punishment. When I was in the public school system in Dallas in the 1950s principals carried a paddle around with them to ensure that the students saw it and would toe the line. They drilled holes in the paddle to reduce the wind resistance and give it more velocity. If you were to be paddled you had to bend over and hold your ankles and “take it like a man”. For some reason child abuse was wrapped up in the State’s principle of the school substituting for the parents even if the parents didn’t believe in hitting a child.
January 23, 2018 at 8:26 pm
Bob,
I haven’t been in a school where corporal punishment is accepted discipline, not even in Africa. I would never condone paddling as an acceptable punishment. It solves nothing.
January 23, 2018 at 10:02 pm
Whoever spares the rod hates their children,
but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them
The scripture means that if you love your children, you will carefully discipline them. The “carefully” means with wisdom and with an appropriate punishment. In other words, discipline with a caring compassion. The first phrase is the converse of the second. I agree the shortened common translation doesn’t fully capture the scripture.
January 23, 2018 at 10:27 pm
Spaceman,
The common translation does leave out that most important admonition, careful to discipline. It isn’t discipline for the sake of imposing punishment. It needs to teach children about choosing what’s right and the consequences of making the wrong choices.
January 23, 2018 at 11:48 pm
I was trying to say that. You did a lot better
January 24, 2018 at 11:49 am
Spaceman,
That was my job for years. a high school disciplinarian. I always tried to teach in the midst of imposing discipline. Changing behavior was always the goal.
January 24, 2018 at 1:29 pm
You have lots of actual experience in dealing with such matters and write so well in expressing points. If you are up to it, characterize the first phrase of the proverb considering that it is very rare that parents would hate children. I struggled with writing something explicit about the first phrase and ducked by saying it was opposite the first.
January 24, 2018 at 4:05 pm
Spaceman,
I think it is a proverbial rod. It probably means you need to address your child’s behavior. If not, you are failing as a parent for it is the parent’s responsibility to teach their children about making choices and doing what is right.
January 25, 2018 at 8:15 am
Agreed. The wording of the phrase is rather malevolent – exaggerated to make the point.
January 25, 2018 at 11:24 am
I find scripture is often malevolent. I guess scaring us into being good is the intent.
January 25, 2018 at 11:33 pm
A rough time and a rough place. Jerusalem is in a small valley surrounded by mountains. Surrounding areas are rugged. The Jews were constantly rioting and the Romans harshly suppressed them. Pilate’s chief interest was keeping a lid on powder keg to keep from getting in trouble with Rome. Of course Proverbs is Old Testament, but it was still rough living. Some tough language in the scriptures at times. I enjoy the Proverbs – do have much practical advice that applied 2000 years ago and as well as today. For pretty language, it’s the Psalms and the Songs of Solomon.
January 25, 2018 at 11:56 pm
Spaceman,.
Ben Franklin always seemed to me a more modern version of the proverbs. I figure language is adapted to fit the times, but the messages are somewhat similar.
The psalms are beautiful.
The Romans had no idea what they were getting themselves into: geographically, religiously or politically. I think of the US in Afghanistan, and the problems they face are much the same as those the Romans faced.
January 26, 2018 at 8:02 pm
When I read scripture I often read the Message bible, which uses very contemporary language. Sometimes too contemporary so keep a tradition bible close by. Or use Matthew Henry’s complete commentary. I need a lot help understanding many verses.
Afghanistan is a hard country. In modern history, the Brits and Russkies found that out. And the natives been fighting among themselves for hundreds of years; it’s tradition. A big difference is that the Romans wanted to rule that part of the world. US trying to figure out how to get out of Afghanistan. Would have been a better idea to pull after exacting some pay back for 9-11 and let the Afghans go back doing what they like the best; killing one another.
January 26, 2018 at 9:17 pm
Spaceman,
It is the tribal culture in Afghanistan which is the cause for so many internal conflicts. The US just jumps right in despite the failures of other countries in ending conflicts or solving problems. The French in Vietnam and even the Russians in Afghanistan were examples the US ignored.
January 26, 2018 at 9:51 pm
The Taliban was harboring Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. Mastermind of 9-11 attack against the WTC, Pentagon, and somewhere else in DC had the 4th airliner not crashed. 3000 dead, 6000 wounded. US had to punish the Taliban and the Taliban knew the Americans were coming. But when that short-term mission was done, US should have left directly.
January 26, 2018 at 10:14 pm
Spaceman,
Bin Laden was all over the place and was being protected and hidden underground in Afghanistan.They really didn’t know where he was but rumor had him in Pakistan where they eventually found him in 2011. The US should have left but …
January 27, 2018 at 12:54 pm
They primary goal was to punish the Taliban for harboring Bin Laden while he was cooking up the 9-11 attack. Catching Bin Laden would have been a bonus though unlikely since the Taliban knew the Americans were coming. Toward the end of his term, Bush was winding the conflict down. Obama re-escalated the war (The Good War?) – never did understand that decision. Not clear what Trump is doing there. Mostly air support from I can tell. Gotten away from feet on the ground for the most part. There is still a lot of fighting going on – most of which you don’t hear about. This website publishes the highlights.
http://icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx
January 27, 2018 at 3:26 pm
Spaceman,
There was a need to get bin Laden for 9/11. I understand being in Afghanistan for that purpose until he, of course, moved to Pakistan.
January 23, 2018 at 10:18 pm
I just noticed that this picture has the German title Erziehungsmethode (method of education), it’s a Bundesarchiv picture so I looked up wikimedia. No special location given, date around 1935.
Corporal punishment in schools was finally prohibited when I was in 3rd class, our principal didn’t stop but nobody dared to sue him. Parents were still allowed to beat their children and I remember schoolmates that couldn’t attend school for days because they were seriously injured. Humiliation and slaps in the face at home still were common, I remember only too well. Definitely no “good old times”.
I miss minicapts picture comments and was sad to read about his death.
January 23, 2018 at 10:36 pm
Birgit,
I never saw any corporal punishment. I don’t know when it was outlawed. I believe it was a state by state decision as I remember there was still corporal punishment in Texas.
This picture wasn’t labeled, and I didn’t think to run down its origin.
I also miss minicapt. I was so saddened by his death. He never let on he was so ill and still wrote often. He was amazing. He sent all sorts of wonderful e-mails, and he introduced me to a variety of music. I remember mentioning needing a free standing projector for DVD’s for my deck. He found exactly what I was looking for. He was my go-to-it Mac guy. He found great sites he always shared.