School corporal punishment
School corporal punishment is corporal punishment inflicted on a student in a school situation, generally for misbehavior or violation of school rules, or for failing to learn lessons well enough to satisfy the teacher. Teachers have employed corporal punishment from earliest known schools until comparatively recently. However, in the mid to late twentieth century, many countries legally prohibited corporal punishment in schools, and in many places where it is still legal it became quite rare. It is now common in only a few countries, including parts of Asia and Africa, and some regions of the United States.
Traditionally teachers are expected by society to fulfil an in loco parentis role; i.e. they should educate the children not only in knowledge but also in good behavior. Teachers were permitted and expected to punish children under their supervision who showed undesirable or unacceptable behavior such as laziness, inattentiveness, rudeness or disobedience.
History
Descriptions of school corporal punishment are known from practically all ancient cultures that had schooling systems and writing, such as the Sumerians, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and ancient China.
The Romans employed spanking implements such as the scutia, a kind of strap, the ferula, a kind of cane or switch, the flagellum, a kind of whip, and the virga, a kind of birch.
In medieval European schools, corporal punishment played such a vital role that the birch became the emblem and symbol of the teaching profession. See also [[Historic illustrations: schools and teaching]]. In Germany, the annual cutting of rods for the teacher developed into festivities called Rutenfest.
18th and 19th century
In England, the traditional forms of corporal punishment in schools were the switch, the birch, and the cane. In Ireland, implements such as the Irish school strap were used. In Scotland, the tawse was commonly used. In the United States the paddle was perhaps most common, followed by the switch and the ruler. But there was much regional and local variation in implements and methods of school punishment. Sometimes teachers would use a blackboard pointer for cp. An example of the methods and frequency of typical school corporal punishment in 18th century Germany is given in the account of Johann Häberle.
In addition to various forms of spanking and striking the hand, school punishments typically included scolding, writing lines, restriction, corner time, log kneeling, and various forms of humiliation, such as the wearing of a dunce cap or donkey cap.
Today
In the 20th century, school corporal punishment fell out of fashion and was gradually banned in many countries, a trend that continues to the present day. As of May 2008, the following 103 countries prohibit corporal punishment in schools: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Congo (Republic of), Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia (Republic of), Malawi, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Micronesia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia.
The following 89 countries still permit school corporal punishment: Afghanistan, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Czech Republic, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, France, Gambia, Grenada, Guatemala, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, North Korea, South Korea, Laos, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Tuvalu, Uganda, United States of America, Vietnam, Zimbabwe.
and judicial (including prison) corporal punishment.
Note: for some countries, the above list and the map do not correspond (e.g. Australia, France). These cases need clarification. It could be that school corporal punishment is no longer practised in these countries but there is no national-level ban.
Literary depictions
Corporal punishment has often been depicted in fiction set in a school or involving schoolchildren. Perhaps the classic scenes of English school punishments are to be found in Tom Brown's Schooldays. Mark Twain's famous novel Tom Sawyer has several scenes of school punishment, including the much quoted scene where Tom saves Becky Thatcher from a whipping by falsely confessing to her misdeed. (This has been re-written by Handprince as "If Tom Hadn't been noble", in which Tom fails to intervene and Becky is duly thrashed.)
One of the finest scenes of corporal punishment in fiction appear in Charlotte Bronte's novel, Jane Eyre, when Miss Scatcherd switches Helen Burns for her dirty fingernails. "Burns" is what Miss Scatcherd calls her, for at Lowood the girls are all called by their surnames, as boys are elsewhere, "you have never cleaned your nails this morning!" But Burns makes no answer, Jane Eyre's attention is distracted for a moment, and when Jane looks again she sees Burns returning from a small storeroom in which the books are kept, "carrying in her hand a bundle of twigs tied together at one end." Burns presents this "ominous tool" to her teacher "with a respectful curtesy" and then, quietly and without being told, unlooses her pinafore to receive from Miss Scatcherd a dozen strokes across the back of her neck. "Hardened girl!" Miss Scatcherd declares, "nothing can correct you of your slatternly habits: carry the rod away." But though Burns accepts her chastisement with Godly humility and Christian patience, she fails to learn from it, for soon afterward Miss Scatcherd, examining the dresser drawers in the dormitory, finds Burns' drawer in disorder and, the next morning, pastes a "SLATTERN" sign onto Burns' forehead and pins a half-dozen untidy items to Burns' shoulder for the day.
School punishment in spanking stories
Because of the long tradition of actual spankings and other corporal punishments in school settings, school spanking stories are a popular sub-genre of spanking stories; these employ school settings of various kinds (historical, contemporary, science fictional or fantastical) for spanking scenes. For example, several of Lurking Dragon's Melody series include school punishments, as do several stories by SamPast, Abel Jenkins and other authors. Also, several writers of fan fiction have inserted school spanking scenes in school settings where they are not to be found in the original, perhaps most often in reworkings of the Harry Potter setting.
School punishment in roleplay
Among adult spanking enthusasists, school punishment is a very frequent setting for roleplay and ageplay -- so much so that a schoolgirl costume is a very common outfit at spanking parties. See also schoolie.
See also
Links
- Links to many official school manuals and handbooks indicating conditions under which corporal punishment is used.
Reference
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