Spank Envy

Over the weekend, I read this with some amusement. It's a story about a Schaumburg, Illinois woman whose 1st grade son was suspended from a private "Christian" school when she refused to spank her son (she later withdrew him from the school). Not that I think the school was right but it is a private school and, as such, able to set many of its own (stupid) rules.

As I was reading the story, I thought of my own schooling in a Catholic grade school (K-8). I was thinking that this would have gotten no attention at all in the 60's and 70's when I was a student. But then I realized I had never actually witnessed a teacher (or principal) administer a spanking, per se, while in that school. Hmmmm...I saw lots of verbal humiliation, kids locked in closets, face slapping, and even a friend have the contents of a full trash can dumped on his head (he had dared toss a wad of paper into the basket from his desk). But never a spanking on the butt. Nor do I recall ever seeing the legendary rapping of knuckles with a ruler by a nun. I guess my school was more progressive than I thought at the time.