The Tawse

[Jack]

Banned in Scotland after some English twat (a senior civil servant with what is now the Scottish Government) came to Scotland with his lily livered son who refused its administration and went to the European Human Rights thingy.

Made in Lochgelly, Fife.

Was apparently called the tawse because the most popular was the two tongue job.

Any of out older members care to share a story or two of how they were very brave and didn’t cry :greengrin; not very brave and did cry :boo hoo:; how the person who dished it out made a fool of themself :duck:?

Any younger folk who know what I’m on about think it was a good thing that should be brought back?




Any teachers out there care to comment?

[Mikey]

I remember getting that a few times in primary school.

Would do the youth of today some good :wink:

[MSK]

Still got a scar on my right hand from the lash from Mr Mcrobbie the art history teacher at Porty High.....:boo hoo:

I do though remember a female teacher at Porty ....when she was in a rage her big jam jar glasses used tae steam up so much so she missed the target each time wi the lash ...:greengrin

[Removed]

[quote=Jack;1580827] how the person who dished it out made a fool of themself :duck:?

I remember my 4th year geography teacher at Currie High (Mr Gray I think) try to make an example of me in front of the class and he put a bit of chalk on the desk and tried to belt that first but he missed. I pished myself laughing so got marched to Mrs Fletcher to give me the belt - his life was never the same again, what a Fud :greengrin

Any younger folk who know what I’m on about think it was a good thing that should be brought back? Yes definitely, get some discipline into them :agree:

[--------]

[quote=Jack;1580827] how the person who dished it out made a fool of themself :duck:?

I remember my 4th year geography teacher at Currie High (Mr Gray I think) try to make an example of me in front of the class and he put a bit of chalk on the desk and tried to belt that first but he missed. I pished myself laughing so got marched to Mrs Fletcher to give me the belt - his life was never the same again, what a Fud :greengrin

Any younger folk who know what I’m on about think it was a good thing that should be brought back? Yes definitely, get some discipline into them :agree:


This is why it wasn't a good thing - from the teachers' point of view.

My middle teacher in primary was a woman who was, shall we say, somewhat emotional and highly strung? (The phrase "change of life" springs to mind.)

We used to do stuff deliberately to get her to belt us, then pull our hands away so she ended up belting her knee. The whole business got quite hysterical (as did Auld Mackie). The dodgy bit was to judge just when to let her hit us, because she couldn't belt us for toffee.

If we misjudged the moment, however, she sent us through to the headmaster. HIS tawse was a three-tongue heavy-duty job, and HE was an expert with it (a Black Belt, you might say).

Six of the best from HIM and there was weeping and wailing and much gnashing of teeth.

I've always suspected he was the inspiration for the wee song the Corries used to sing:

"Oor wee school's a guid wee school,
it's made o' bricks and plaster;
the only thing that's wrang wi' it's
the baldy-heided master...
He goes tae the pub on the Saturday night,
and goes tae the Kirk on Sunday
tae pray tae God tae gie him strength
tae leather the weans on Monday...."

I've been told that there's a spot in the middle of the palm of your hand, where if the tip of the belt caught you right there, there was nothing you could do to stop yourself crying.

With Baldy it was just that he hit you really, really hard and it hurt like stink.

[Greentinted]

I was strapped with said item (tan in colour with three prongs) by Miss McCluskey the Music teacher in 2nd year, just cos she was a hatchet-faced moany besom!
However, the offending item, remains in my possesion to this day after I exacted revenge by, ahem, removing it shortly afterwards!:greengrin

[marinello59]

I don't think it actually did much to enforce discipline, well not in secondary school anyway. . We had competitions to see who could get the most lashes over a school term. It got to the ridiculous stage of us confessing to things we hadn't done in order to get our scores up.
(Some teachers did bring a tear to the eye though, techy teachers tended to be able to dish it out quite well.:greengrin)

[--------]

I don't think it actually did much to enforce discipline, well not in secondary school anyway. . We had competitions to see who could get the most lashes over a school term. It got to the ridiculous stage of us confessing to things we hadn't done in order to get our scores up.
(Some teachers did bring a tear to the eye though, techy teachers tended to be able to dish it out quite well.:greengrin)


Aye, you didnnae mess with the Techie teacher, eh?

I worked in a school for a wee while where one of the Techie teachers had a home-made tawse cut out of leather from the drive-belt of a coal-cutting machine from Bilston colliery. The thing didn't bend, would stand up on its own without support, and wasn't so much leather as an amalgam of leather and powdered coal-dust.

Illegal? Yup. Effective? Yup. Did he have problems keeping discipline? Nope. :devil:

[sg7nil]

Deja vu... I thought I'd seen this before..:confused: I had.. it was on the bounce,:agree: and my reply is copied below.

I got belted dozens of times (possibly hundreds!).... Primary and Secondary school.

But my school had a "hit first, ask questions later" attitude to discipline, and some teachers were particularly belt happy. We one particularly belt happy teacher (am I allowed to name and shame her here???) who took my second year class (just the boys) for music once a week. For the slightest thing (and I do mean the slightest) she would line the whole class up (over 20 boys) and give everyone six each.... then later on it would be another six each.. with possibly another six each to follow.. (worst I ever saw was every boy getting 18 strokes each - even ones that wouldn't say boo to a goose) she seemed to enjoy it though.

Fortunately she was as inept at hitting us as she was at teaching so it wasn't as bad as it could have been!

To be fair I far preferred getting belted, "the web" as it was known, over having to do punisment exercises, or even worse lines.

However it could be a bit awkward if it was immediately before a class that required you to do a lot of writing, as it could be hard to hold a pen with your hands all red and swollen.

Always better to stand side-on to your belter rather than be face on as it could really hurt your wrists if the belt hit you too far up them (although it could also hurt if it wrapped round your hand from side on and whacked you on the back or your hands as well)..

Despite my experience I do believe that there should possibly still be a case for "controlled" corporal punishment at schools. By controlled I mean that no teacher should be allowed to simply belt pupils behind closed doors with no come back on them. It should be strictly controlled and administered.

I believe that I acquired my general lack of respect for "authority" from the indiscriminate use of the belt. A person in authority has to earn respect and cannot simply get it by threats (or actual acts) of violence.

Rant over. http://www.hibeesbounce.com/forum/images/smilies/coffee1.gif

[strummbo]

got the belt so much at primary that the only way to not get the belt was to break into the desk when the teacher wasn't about and steal the thing

31 years later, i still have it

i disagree with it completely

[ChilliEater]

Having been belted at school, having 3 kids of my own and been a teacher for the last 13 years - 1 in Scotland, 9 in England and 3 in Australia, I think I'm qualified to comment on this one :wink:

My elder two kids(10 and 8) are really well behaved. When they were going through the "terrible twos" they each had their bums smacked on about 2 or 3 occasions and then only needed to be warned that a smack was coming to get back in line. The youngest (4), on getting his bum smacked, would turn around and whack you back. We then tried giving him a count to 3 followed by a spell on the naughty chair. Now all you need to say is "Thats 1" and he behaves. Kids are different. Parents and teachers need different tools to effectively discipline children. On a rational, adult, well thought out level I can't condone violence against children, yet all kids need discipline and, for some kids, corporal punishment works. On that basis I wouldn't be against its return, but I know that I would be very uncomfortable giving a kid the belt, so find it difficult to give a clear "yes" or "no" answer. Then again, if parents and teachers actually worked together and supported each other then the belt wouldn't be needed, too many parents are to quick to defend their kids and blame others rather than face the truth and do something about it. All kids misbehave, especially as teenagers (I've got that joy still to come) but they'll only continue to do it if they think they're getting away with it. "Ooh, it's not his fault. He got in with a bad crowd", **** off mrs, he's part of the bad crowd.

[Nakedmanoncrack]

I don't think it actually did much to enforce discipline, well not in secondary school anyway. . We had competitions to see who could get the most lashes over a school term. It got to the ridiculous stage of us confessing to things we hadn't done in order to get our scores up.


Remember such competitions well, used to try to get it as many times as possible in a week, was often a mass spate of beltings on a Friday as we tried to catch up with each other.

[Phil D. Rolls]

Glad it was banned, I saw someone get 12 once, after the teacher - a complete header - lost the plot.