"Pokers and Rulers"

     As many of you know, I am a spelling snob. That snobbishness also overlaps into grammar and syntax.  If I were a college professor, I would have zero patience for the ineptitude at the aforementioned by many of the younger college level students. (Please be assured that I am not referring to students for whom English is a second language.)      

     Oftentimes, we are called upon to read aloud in class.  I have been amazed at some of my fellow students’ inability to pronounce fairly common words, to recognize the flow of sentences, to incorporate inflection, and also to understand the meaning and structure of a paragraph. This has been evident in a number of classes I have taken, but is especially noticeable now, given that this is an English course. I am quite sure that our Professor witnesses me expressing my displeasure through non verbal cues, as I cringe,  roll my eyes, or express shock with each infraction.

      Growing up, I attended strict Catholic schools. We had Sisters teaching us, armed with rulers and pokers, which they were not disinclined to utilize as a means of “motivation”. Their stringency however, was at times usurped by that of the lay teachers.  I remember in one class, a particular student was made to sit in the front of the classroom on a stool, wearing a dunce cap. Additionally, some of the children had their mouths either taped shut, or stuffed with large balls of paper to keep them from talking excessively. Sometimes we would have detention, and have to copy from the dictionary. (The severity of this punishment pales in comparison to some of the others.)  Additionally, it was pointless for the children to enlighten their parents about any of this, as the result would be ensuing parental punishment.

     When I was ten, my Mom and I were visiting relatives in California. My aunt and uncle were at their wits’ end, as their eight year old son was incorrigible, and the teacher could not control him. (He attended public school!)  My Mom advised them to call the school, and authorize the teacher to spank him, right in front of the class!  They were somewhat taken aback by this, but they did it. Those were certainly different times, and vastly different parenting methods.

     Can you imagine any of these methods of “discipline” occurring in a present day classroom? Any and all of it would be grounds for a lawsuit nowadays. I am not declaring that I am in agreement with some of those harsher methods, especially humiliation.  However, most of us came out of those classes of the sixties and early seventies with a good education, and a sense of self discipline.  Personally, I was more damaged by teasing from fellow students than by anything the teachers did. Of course, I never suffered most of those punishments, because I chose to behave myself.  In that respect, I was smart!