This Hurts Me More Than You

Topic: White Water

This Hurts Me More Than You

Independent Women's Forum
Peter Worthington

This Hurts Me More Than You

Peter Worthington defends the strap

No one seems to notice the oddity that there is more violence, disrespect, guns, knives, and defiance in elementary schools than there ever was in the bad old days when boys routinely fought at recess, were punished with the strap, and caused not a murmur in small towns when they walked down Main Street carrying .22 rifles.

The people now in positions of influence in the school system are the products of permissive education, and subscribe to the myth that boys and girls are essentially the same, and that things like school-yard fights and the strap are unacceptable.

When my son was in public school in the late sixties and early seventies, it was the era of open, unstructured classes, no competition, no fighting, and certainly nothing resembling corporal punishment. Hugging was preferable to roughhousing, and putting pressure on kids to achieve was a no-no.

I remember one principal, a matronly woman, summoning my ex-wife and me to a special meeting because she feared our seven-year-old son had a latent violent streak. As proof, she showed us one of his recent drawingsó tanks shooting, ships firing, planes bombing, explosions everywhere. Atop the page was awkwardly lettered "WORLD WAR 1." I said I thought boys drawing pictures of wars was normal. She smiled one of those teacher-knows-best smiles and brought out another drawing. It was of more planes, bombs, tanks, and explosions. This one was titled "WORLD WAR 2." I shrugged so what; my ex-wife looked nervous.

The principal then brought out a succession of other drawings, variously marked WORLD WAR 3, WORLD WAR 4, WORLD WAR 5. To the principal this unwholesome fixation on war indicated possible violence in the home. Both women looked accusingly at me. I quipped that I thought the drawings showed the kid was an optimist - most of us couldn't think beyond WWIII, and here he was up to WWV. Ex-wife and the principal glanced at each other, apprehensions confirmed.

As one who is of the generation that routinely fought in school and regularly got belted by teachers, I'd argue that both played a vital part in molding not only good character, but civilized character. For boys, fighting is normal, almost a rite of passage. I consider myself something of a lay expert in school fights, since I was the son of a pre-war regular soldier. Every year my father was transferred and I had to join a new school in mid-term. To find my slot in the pecking order, I routinely had to fight the class tough guy. It wasn't whether you won or lost that was important, but how you conducted yourself: did you fight hard, did you cry, did you show fear, did you run away? Spunk meant status.

In those days, boys got the strap for a variety of offenses - misdemeanors, cheekiness, laziness, not paying attention, failing to do homework, playing the clown. When caught, youíd be hauled to the front of the class and get two to six strokes on each hand. The higher the number, the greater the prestige - or shame, if perchance you cried or winced. The class would look on with a mixture of interest and relief that it was you and not them. "Taking punishment like a man," was the highest accolade. On rare occasions, if you moved your hand so the strap missed, you were something of a hero, especially if the teacher hit his own leg. Not many had the guts to do this. On returning to your seat after the strap, if you winked, or rolled your eyes, or smothered a grin, you gained status. If you hung your head or whimpered, you lost status.

I agree there's risk in dishing out corporal punishment in schools, as sadists and bullies aren't unknown in the teaching trade. Kids, however, quickly learn which teachers to avoid provoking. For the most part I think something important was lost when the strap was banned. We should remember that it was that generation of boys for whom the strap in school was normal and routine who fought and won World War II and were endowed with many of those virtues of courage, loyalty, duty, and honor that seem in such short supply today.

As for my son, soon after the meeting with the principal he transferred to a more structured school, and his school work improved under discipline and competition. Today he is happily married, has a good job, and hasn't started a single war.

Peter Worthington is founding editor of the Toronto Sun and a syndicated columnist.

This article can be found at the Independent Women's Forum (http://www.iwf.org).

Posted by: Seattle () *
08/12/98 15:09:01 EDT

To: Seattle
I've noticed and I also think it would be helpful to bring back the draft and teach some responsibility and respect.
From: harrowup (docnathan@ameritech.net) *
08/12/98 15:13:45 EDT

To: Seattle
I fought in the schoolyard, walked up the Main St of the 5th largest city in Vermont in the late 30's ans early 40's. Just kids going hunting. No one gave us a second look. We were only told not to load our weapons until we got in the woods. PS you could shoot game without being called a criminal back in those days.
From: a+bert () *
08/12/98 15:31:24 EDT

To: Seattle
I fought in the schoolyard, walked up the Main St of the 5th largest city in Vermont in the late 30's ans early 40's. Just kids going hunting. No one gave us a second look. We were only told not to load our weapons until we got in the woods. PS you could shoot game without being called a criminal back in those days.
From: a+bert () *
08/12/98 15:31:44 EDT

To: Seattle
I fought in the schoolyard, walked up the Main St of the 5th largest city in Vermont in the late 30's ans early 40's. Just kids going hunting. No one gave us a second look. We were only told not to load our weapons until we got in the woods. PS you could shoot game without being called a criminal back in those days.
From: a+bert () *
08/12/98 15:32:13 EDT

To: harrowup
Male behavior is complex and difficult to teach. Boys need to fight at the playground, roughouse with their fathers, and play football. This infuses them with a crash course in risk taking, deterrence, character, courage, and humility. The young men who commit violent crimes are generally vague on most of these points.
From: mmparker () *
08/12/98 15:33:24 EDT

To: Seattle
How many strokes for people who don't put away their <i>'s? Spare the rod, spoil the society.
From: ToryNotion (emailname) *
08/12/98 15:35:01 EDT

To: mmparker
... and play football.
In light of the feminization of our society, is it any wonder that soccer is being pushed so hard for kids and football disparaged.
From: ToryNotion (emailname) *
08/12/98 15:37:55 EDT

To: Seattle
drawings of tanks shooting, ships firing, planes bombing, explosions everywhere....
Gee. I guess that was me they were talking about. My masterpiece was a picture drawn on the subject: "Happiness is...." For me, it was "Happiness is a good war movie on TV". My matronly teacher and the principal stood together, shaking their heads sorrowfully and reprovingly. Other than my secret life as a nuclear terrorist, I turned out pretty well, though, as did my war-picture-drawing friends.
From: r9etb () *
08/12/98 15:43:10 EDT

To: a+bert
Italians BE GONE!
I grew up in the fifties - Pop was a WWII Bosun's Mate Master at Arms on a aircraft carrier. Tough ol' bird but he raised a couple of good kids. Taught us how to fight after seeing us take our licks. Taught us to shoot straight and hit what we were aiming at -- an art he learned providing food for his parents growing up in the depression. Never minded a teacher bending us over the desk and giving us needed swats on the rear - as long as the teacher was right and he ALWAYS gave the teacher the benefit of the doubt. He also always gave us the same when we got home. Double jeopardy, but he got his point across. In that far away and long ago little community we knew that we could only get away with so much. Cross a certain line and people would begin to talk and that talk always ended up with either Mom or Pop hearing of it. Tended to keep us in line even when we were older and out of site. Now I will admit drag racing the tractors on that country road was not the best idea we ever came up with but spending the summer for low wages on the seat of a tractor (since Pop figured I liked driving them so much) did keep me out of trouble for awhile. (grin) I only wish I could have been smart enough to raise my daughter the same way.
From: Adam Selene (MYCROFTXXX@elcic.com) *
08/12/98 15:47:04 EDT

To: Seattle
Not punishing naughty kids with spankings, strappings, switchings, etc., breeds a "no consequences" frame of mind which is, as evidenced today, an absolute disaster in child rearing.

We are now reaping all of the vile harvest we have coming for allowing our common sense to take a back seat to the Liberal Baloney spewed over the past decades.

And while the Liberal Baloney (LB) is, in large part, responsible, the most telling of all trends has been this nation turning it's back on God, and on His Holy Word as written in The Bible.

The LB has had its obvious and disastrous effect, but the only real healing from this will be a spiritual re-birth in this country which allows Him to again direct our lives, as well as the course followed by this great, Christian nation under God.

Amen.
From: jimgib (jim@globalvistas.com) *
08/12/98 16:01:06 EDT

To: Adam Selene
I did the fifties, too. My dad was a navy corpsman at the end of the war. When he turned old enough, they didn't need warriors. They needed people to take care of the returning casualties. I didn't fight much in school - never had a need to. But that's not what I'm replying about.

My son, who turns twelve next week, has a well earned black belt in Karate. He has been taught never to use his skills as an agressive weapon. It is to be used for defense of self and others. He has been taught ways to gently subdue aggressives. Last year, on the school bus, he gently coaxed to the floor a rather large female student who was abusing another rider. He received a suspension for this. I wonder what would have happened to the female aggressor if he had allowed it to go to its completion.
From: bluedevil (emailname) *
08/12/98 16:31:35 EDT