Harris says paddling days are over in city schools!

From the Monroe (Louisiana) Free Press

Tuesday there was a lively discussion at the Monroe City School board meeting about corporal punishment.

It appears that the new superintendent wants to eliminate corporal punishment.

There are many across the nation who agree with the superintendent's opinion that corporal punishment has outlasted its time.

Actually, the board's present policy is pretty lenient. It allows students to get a spanking for bad behavior as long as the teacher follows the rules.

The rules are that students can't be spanked in front of other students to embarass them. Neither can teachers invent their own straps. The board has designated the size of the paddle (It's so thin that it can only sting a little but never really hurt).

The board has even limited the number of "licks" that can be administered to three.

To be sure that the rules are followed another teacher has to observe the spanking.

The teachers say the threat of spanking helps them keep order and it is the only thing that restrains some of the more aggressive students.

Well, if the superintendent has her way, that policy will be gone.

That's a question for the educators to decide. I do know that if the present policy was in place when I was a student at J.S. Clark, Carver and Lincoln, I would have laughed every day and made fun of that little bitty paddle.

I recall once Mrs. Zerita Thompson brought an automobile fan belt to class and laid it on her desk. She burned my hands many times because I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

I remember getting spankings in class for not having my homework. On an especially lazy weekend I showed up to class without homework and received ten licks in my hands in every class.

It became entertainment for the class watching me and others do our little dance day after day.

Mr. Matthew Williams was the principal of Carroll Jr. High. He had big hands and was a football coach. His licks hurt.

He spent so much time paddling us until he had a designated paddler, Mr. Roy Neal Shelling.

Every student that broke the rules was marched to Mr. Shelling's room on his free period and he spent his free period paddling boys on the buttocks and girls in the hands.

Mr. Shelling thought the paddling was a teachable moment. He decided to teach us math while he paddled us.

He took the trash can and told me to bend over the trash can. "That is a 45 degree angle," he said.

He then swung that paddle with a force that was hard enough to sting but not hard enough to injure.

Upon impact I jumped up straight. When I straighted up, jumping around and holding my behind he said, "Now that you are standing up straight, that's a 180 degree angle."

When I turned around and around, he said, "That's a 360 degree turn."

Shelling spanked everybody. Often he didn't know what he was spanking them for; but everyone left with stinging pants, a story to tell and a claim to fame.

Some of us thought we were smart. We knew we would be spanked so we wore two or three pair of pants, took our licking and kept on ticking.

The school board's present policy would have been laughable back in the day. Only three licks? With that little bitty paddle, are you serious?

The nice girls got three licks. The tough boys got 10 licks even 20 or 25 depending on how tough they tried to be.

It will be interesting to find out what happens once students learn that they can't be paddled anymore and they can actually get a three day vacation if they break school rules, fight or become too aggressive.

Like mama, the principal loved them but had the power to "beat your behind."

No paddle at all? Students will love Dr. Harris!

Hallelujah!