A good spanking!!

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Comerscroft
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A good spanking!!

Post by Comerscroft »

Interested to flick through a copy of the 12th Holiday Book in a bookshop the other day, and read the cautionary tale of Joe(?), a very rude little boy who got his come-uppance.

He had been bad-tempered and rude all day, and was out in the shed when his mother appeared and told him to go and do something. He refused so she gave him a little push, and he was VERY rude to her. Infortunately for Joe, Nemesis in the shape of his father, came into the shed, having heard what Joe had said.

'We've talked about this for long enough, Joe' said his father. 'Now we'll see what a good slapping will do'. As Joe's mother fled up the path, the shed door was shut, and even the cat fled in panic, for Father's hand 'was very hard', and Joe yelled.

There is a picture of Joe over his father's knee, having his (clothed) behind thoroughly smacked.

Apparently, Joe was never rude again---problem solved!

Can't help wondering what would happen in 2007. Judging by what I see on Supernanny, The small boy would probably kick his mother and swear at her, Father would be non-existent, and Joe's behind would certainly NOT be smacked.

It must have been SO much easier in Enid's simpler, black-and-white world!
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Moose »

I noticed that a reference to spanking had been removed from my modern edition of Last Term at Malory Towers. It's not yet illegal here in the UK but it's definitely not PC :)

That said, I can't help thinking that Blyton went rather too far with her continual references to corporal punishment.
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Ming
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Ming »

Oh, spanking's very PC here... :roll:
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Are teachers allowed to use corporal punishment at your school, Ming? Pupils were caned when I was at school (though I avoided it, partly through behaving myself and partly through not getting caught if I didn't! :wink: ). However, caning was used sparingly and was abolished in Britain in 1987.

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Ming
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Ming »

No, corporal punishment is not allowed in our school, but the ones in poorer sections of the countries are free with their canes. :? :(
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

Still, the children who attend those schools are probably the same village children who have so much freedom in the hols! :wink:

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"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
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Ming
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Ming »

You're right, there!
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Kitty »

Moose wrote:I noticed that a reference to spanking had been removed from my modern edition of Last Term at Malory Towers. It's not yet illegal here in the UK but it's definitely not PC :)

That said, I can't help thinking that Blyton went rather too far with her continual references to corporal punishment.
Corporal punishment in school stories is a major, major cringe factor for me. Though I appreciate that the author was writing at a different time, so I don't judge them morally for it, I just recoil and read on! At least the Blyton ones don't have masters delivering sound thrashings to their boys, etc (and I guess this is where the innuendo towards vintage children's lit in the press is coming from :roll: :lol: :x ).
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Ming »

This reminds me, we are studying Boy - tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl in English literature, and I was amazed by the amount of spanking and caning the boys. This type of behavior is also there in some of his other works, but none of them have been dropped.

Why should Roald Dahl's books be left as they are, but Blyton's works tampered with? What's the difference between them? :x
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Tony Summerfield »

Ming wrote:Why should Roald Dahl's books be left as they are, but Blyton's works tampered with? What's the difference between them? :x
I have talked about this in other threads, but the difference is simply the publishers. Jonathan Cape publish the Roald Dahl books and obviously have no wish to change anything. As far as EB is concerned some publishers change hardly anything at all - again, in another thread we were talking about Smuggler Ben and the newest version published by Bloomsbury is exactly the same as the original wording.
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Petermax
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Petermax »

I can testify from personal experience that most parents during the 1960s/70s were not afraid to use corporal punishment. All the schools that I attended would also use various different methods of chastisement, we all accepted it as being perfectly normal.

My secondary school excelled in corporal punishment with various implements being used such as gym shoes, rulers, blackboard compasses and of course the cane which resided in in the Headmasters office and was used on special occasions. For minor misdemeanours blackboard rubbers and pieces of chalk thrown with great accuracy would suffice. I hasten to add that I avoided school corporal punishment but did get caught in the crossfire now and then!
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by manzanita »

Anita Bensoussane wrote:Are teachers allowed to use corporal punishment at your school, Ming? Pupils were caned when I was at school (though I avoided it, partly through behaving myself and partly through not getting caught if I didn't! :wink: ). However, caning was used sparingly and was abolished in Britain in 1987.

Anita
Blimey, as recently as that? I assumed caning would have been abolished way before then! I can distinctly remember some kids being smacked with a rolled up wodge of papers at primary school and I left in 1990! Before that, I can remember various incidences of full hands on backsides smacking and slaps on the hand.

At secondary school, having things thrown at you was very common or a very sharp snap of a ruler next to your hand on the table was pretty common.

Outside of school, I knew many of my friends were smacked with belts and other items. Personally, I think that is going too far... a smack with the hand is one thing, but actually selecting a weapon to implement the smack is far beyond reasonable chastisement.

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Comerscroft
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Comerscroft »

Here in Scotland, the tawse was abolished in 1984.

It was never used in my girls' school, but in the state sector, and in my brother's school, the Lochgelly Tawse was usually laid on the teachers desk in full view of the pupils as a reminder to behave.

The Lockgelly (named after Lochgelly, in Fife, where it was made, was a thick leather strap, about 15 inches long, one end of which was cut into 3 'tails' or thongs for maximum effect. It was used on the hand which was actually much more painful and more dangerous than if it had been used on the backside as a slight misjudgement could result in damage to the wrist nerves.

In Primary 1, my brother and his pals could expect the blackboard rubber across their bottoms. Thereafter, it was the tawse. No only for misbehaviour but also for getting sums wrong, talking in class, not working hard enough etc, etc.

At home, we were smacked occasionally, but only with the hand, never implements. My friend, though, received the wooden spoon across her legs if she misbehaved. Her mother kept a few wooden spoons hanging up by the stove to remind her five children of the consequences of misbehaviour.
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by lizarfau »

Blyton does mention spankings quite frequently in her books - I do wonder if she might have been a bit of a fetishist! :lol:
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Anita Bensoussane
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Re: A good spanking!!

Post by Anita Bensoussane »

[Comerscroft:] In Primary 1, my brother and his pals could expect the blackboard rubber across their bottoms. Thereafter, it was the tawse. No only for misbehaviour but also for getting sums wrong, talking in class, not working hard enough etc, etc.
Crumbs! It sounds as if there were no clear guidelines and teachers were free to use it on a whim, rather than reserving corporal punishment for the most serious acts of misbehaviour. Reading Roald Dahl's autobiography, and old-fashioned boys' school stories, it certainly seems that the cane, tawse, etc became weapons of abuse in the hands of some teachers.

As far as I know, there is no move to bring the cane back into schools in Britain. However, prison officers in Britain are issued with hard plastic batons for use on adult prisoners and I read this week that they're now seeking permission to use them on inmates aged 15-17:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/a ... ge_id=1770" target="_blank


Anita
"Heyho for a starry night and a heathery bed!" - Jack, The Secret Island.

"There is no bond like the bond of having read and liked the same books."
- E. Nesbit, The Wonderful Garden.


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