After 6 weeks of kid filled streets, the schools have done the decent thing and re-opened, following the summer holidays! As ever, there will be many children who "don’t want to go" for one reason or another. Perhaps there is a teacher who looks at them with disgust or always shouts at them. Notice however, that both of these do not involve any implement, to prove a point!
Not so 100 years ago. Children would receive corporal punishment for a variety of offences that by today's standards, seem a little harsh to say the least. Mind you, before the reign of Queen Victoria, it was only the richer children who went to school, so any education was better than the workhouse, regardless of whether that meant a few cane lashings.
Rich children were taught at home until they were 10 years old. When boys hit that golden age, they would be sent away to public schools such as Eton. Until the end of the Victorian era, there were few schools for girls and most were educated at home.
During Victorian times, the ability for children to be able to read and write became more important and The Church of England became increasingly active in the newly erected "National Schools". These schools taught reading, writing, arithmetic and religion. In 1880, schooling became mandatory until the age of 10 and in 1889 this was raised to 12. After 1891, schools fees were abolished and schools became free to all.
If today's society thinks that class sizes over 30 are bad, then imagine what classes of 70 or 80 pupils was like. Teachers in those days were very strict and a selection of offences from various schools’ punishment books, of the time included:
Spitting
Destroying counters purposely
Sceaming
Wilfully breaking pencil point
Making nasty sounds with mouth
Sulking
Incessant talking
Dirty behaviour in closets
Swearing
From the list above, I can tell you that I would have received the cane on more than one occasion, although the allegations that I wilfully broke a pencil point are totally untrue! I remember what being in school was like and if the same rules applied today, there wouldn't be any teaching being done, as all the teachers would be belting the daylights out of the pupils from morning registration to home time!
So next time you hear a child complain about the arduous task of going to school these days, remind them of what it was like in years past and what their dirty closet behaviours would mean for them!
Rob Denholm
Meet Your Family