The Tawse

[Iain]

There was a clique of us in that year that were as bad as each other.

Same here.Five of us were expelled on the same day.One of the main reasons was that we painted something on the science lab.exterior wall."Bill is a b*****d".Bill Potts was the head master and the slogan could be seen half-way across Stoke-on-Trent.When we left we set off the fire alarm,all fire extingushers were emptied and the school gates were taken off the hinges and left in the main road.

WOW !!

[LANDROVER ROGER]

But of course I have calmed down since then.

[Martin]

I never knew they'd got rid of me until the Education Welfare Officer pulled alongside of me and asked how it felt to be free. There had been no letter and I hadn't been near the school in ages. I walked down the road on a cloud of air, the nightmare was finally over and I never looked back.
BTW, I went on to get the "O" levels I wanted and joined Mensa in the late 1980's, just to poke two fingers at all those who put me down. I've had more fun and seen more money than a lot of you could even dream about. Not bad for a beat up kid who sold his arse for a hit of heroin at 14.
Just so you know.
I'll stop now.

[Niander]

Heroin ...nasty stuff....
stupid teachers ...im surprised it was allowed in this country till the eighties!...not for bad spelling

[Martin]

It's not clever, not funny and certainly nothing to be proud of. I had this song dedicated to me in a pub one night and it hurt. I've not touched it since and that was a long time ago.

[Tawse]

I read with interest the debate on the use of the tawse / belt / strap. There is no doubt about the effectiveness of the belt in controlling unruly behaviour. Although I would not have condoned it for lack of diligence or intelligence as some teachers seem to have done. However it dealt the correct deterent on repeated unruly or disruptive behavious. It also seems that younger generations are sceptical of its real effect. As I still possess a Lochgelly I offer any of you who want to experience the tawse first hand to stand up and be counted. You could even use it as a charity fundraising event. Go on I dare you !!

[numberplease]

In our school, in S.Yorkshire, we had the battleboard on our backsides in the infants, that was a table tennis bat without the rubber coating. I was battleboarded once, in the 3rd year, unjustly, I thought, for damaging my own clothing, not the school`s property. That was Mrs. Wilkinson, a right tartar! In the juniors, there was the cane, which I was given twice, once for being late, administered by Mr.Winks, the headmaster, and once for paying more attention to a little doll I had sitting on the top of my desk than to the lesson. I still hate Mrs.Taylor to this day. I remember her once calling a boy out to be caned, can`t remember what for, he was standing in front of the blackboard, one of those large swing over ones, as she lifteds the cane high, ready to bring it down on his palm, it caught the blackboard and it swung over and hit him on the head, knocking him over. He lay there, stunned and crying, she comforted him, then when he`d calmed down, she caned him!!