At Moody Jr. High School in Bedford, Ohio, in the '70s, it was called "boarding." I don't know if that word softened the blow any, but one thing I do know is that we didn't have a huge drug problem at the school, there were no metal detectors to keep weapons out, and we didn't need a "school resource officer" on campus.
In a Facebook group I belong to called "You Know You Grew Up in Bedford," someone posted a meme asking, "What were the consequences for misbehavior when you were in school?"
Almost every answer had something to do with "boarding." Teachers back then didn't take a lot of crap and they didn't have to worry about legal repercussions for applying the "board of education to the seat of knowledge" of an unruly miscreant.
The shop teacher back then was legendary for boarding kids. He made his paddle in the school's woodshop. He drilled holes in it, and made every student he paddled sign it. Here are some of my favorite comments from the thread (I'm withholding the names since it's a private group):
"I got paddled at Moody in a shop class of Mr. E. My offense was asking a kid next to me for a hammer. It wasn't like we were in a quiet class like English. It was a shop class!"
"Mr. E. enjoyed paddling students in class. When he acted as lunch room or study hall monitor, he walked around with a plastic ruler so he could hit unsuspecting kids on the hands. After he paddled me in the hall, he paddled the rest of the kids around me to set an example. I was not a popular kid in the lunch room that day."
"He liked to swat anyone who bent over for any reason because he thought it was funny. One time I was getting something out from my locker under the workbench, and he swatted me, driving my head into the open locker. I was always watching out for that sick SOB after that."
There was another teacher at that school who was known for boarding. One student said, "Nobody ever hit me harder than Mr. G. I deserved it, and consider him a close family friend to this day."
Kids at the nearby Catholic school didn't have it much better.
"Mr. B. had one hell of a paddle. You could hear it from one end of the school to the other side!"
"He could really tan The Hide! CRACK! One hell of a science teacher as well."
"I used to carry a wallet in both back pockets due to him. Got boarded lots of times. One was because I hit him in the head with a snowball on a dare. I could talk for days about life at St. Mary's. The nuns and I never got along."
Many of the kids recalled getting worse punishment at home when their parents found out they had been boarded. "If getting boarded in school wasn’t bad enough…you then had to go home to your mom and dad!" one said.
That was back in the days before parents believed little Johnny or Susie could do no wrong. Nowadays, teachers are afraid to confront kids who misbehave, knowing they're the ones who will probably get in trouble.
Granted, Mr. E. seemed to have some serious issues, and I would not recommend that particular brand of discipline, but you've got to admit there was much less trouble in schools back then. Moreover, I think kids were happier. There are dozens of comments on another Facebook page talking about how much they loved their time at Moody Jr. High, with many saying it was the highlight of their school career. I certainly enjoyed my time there (and no, I was never boarded). I learned a lot, too. Sentence diagramming (which I still use to this day), creative writing, basic physics. We read lots of great literature, too. Whole books. I never did learn much algebra, but that was my own fault. The worst thing I remember anyone doing was sneaking off to a nearby house where we smoked behind the neighbor's garage before and after school (I may have partaken a time or ten).
Nowadays, public schools are like prisons. Many are surrounded by razor wire, and students must pass through metal detectors on their way to class. I heard a story a few years back from someone who saw a boy sucker-punch a girl at LeBron James's Promise School in Akron. The teachers ignored it, probably afraid of either losing their jobs or being sued. That's how it is in far too many schools, where a shocking number of students can barely read and write—but you can bet they all know how to obtain an abortion and change their gender.
Ironically, Jimmy Carter created the Department of Education during my last year at Moody Jr. High. A few years later, the school would be torn down, having been in service since 1921. In the years that followed, the federal government would worm its way into every facet of public education, mandating all kinds of ridiculous things that have nothing to do with providing children with a good (or even semi-adequate) education.
Most states, including Ohio, have banned corporal punishment in favor of psycho-therapeutic methods of discipline (if you can even call it that). And by every measure, kids are worse off (and less happy) in public schools.
If I had kids in public school today, I don't think I'd want teachers paddling them—mostly because so many teachers are psychos—but coddling kids who act up (or commit felonious assault!) is not working. Students need to be held accountable for their behavior, and parents must double that accountability at home. And let's get rid of the Department of Education while we're at it.
So, what's your story? Were you paddled? Did it help you see the error of your ways or make things worse? Let me know in the comments.
