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Punishment

Many of the teachers in the rural schools were young and inexperienced. Often they weren’t much older than some of the students they were required to teach. Keeping a class of about 30 or 40 students under control and trying to teach at least 8 grades must have been quite a challenge, and in the beginning, quite frightening. Some forms of punishment were of course necessary.

Less severe offences often resulted in the student having to stand in the corner or another common punishment was to have the student write lines. Lines would probably be written at recesses or over lunch hour. Sometimes lines would have been sent home with students. If you were caught chewing gum in class you might have to stand at the front of the room with your gum on the end of your nose.

For more serious offences, various tools (rulers, the pointer, or switches) were used to strike students across the knuckles or the shoulders. Some teachers used chalk, erasers, pencils, etc. to throw at students.

The strap was always in the teacher’s desk. The fact that it was there was enough of a deterrent for many students. If the teacher slapped it on the desk it really scared students, especially the younger ones. On occasion the strap was administered on the palms of a student’s hands. It was something that most students dreaded. One young female teacher admitted after having to strap a student, she cried herself as it was very upsetting. I’m sure many others felt the same way.

For many students, the worst punishment of all was to have a letter sent home to the parents. They did not want their parents to know that they got into trouble at school because the punishment at home might be quite severe. One former student tells about a time when his brother got the strap at school. Because there were siblings at school, the parents found out about the strapping, and he received another, much worse, at home.

At another rural school two boys sitting in a double desk were fooling around. The teacher went to the piano bench and took out a handful of switches. The two boys were whipped across their backs with the switches. One of the boys decided he had had enough and never returned the next day. It was the end of his education.

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Pointer
1900's
Rural areas around Bentley, Alberta


Credits:
Bentley Museum Society
Bentley School

3

In the Corner
1900,s
Rural areas around Bentley, Alberta


Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

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Writing Lines
1900,s
Rural areas around Bentley, Alberta


Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

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School Strap
1900's
Bentley, Alberta


Credits:
Bentley Museum Society