Corporal Punishment and Nuns

I was listening to the news today, when the commentator mentioned how a Kansas law maker wanted to allow harder spanking in schools. The spanking should be good enough to leave a mark. The question the commentator asked their listening audience if they agreed or disagreed with this form of punishment.

My thought was visceral. I believe in punishment or discipline but not physical punishment. If anyone in a school ever spanked one of my grandchildren, I would go in, tear out their heart, chew it, and spit it in their face. So, I guess you pretty much figured out that I am against spanking. Leave this to the parents and how dare any legislator think that this would be a good idea. Maybe there should be a law where any time a legislator squanders the tax payers’ on unnecessary items, they should have a ruler slapped across their knuckles where it leaves a red mark or bruise.

Thinking about corporal punishment in schools takes me back to when I was in grade school and was taught by those wonderful religious nuns. You know those religious sisters; the ones who could not get married to a man but really were married to Jesus. The ones where you never saw a slip or their black nuns shoes scuffed up or any piece of hair, escaping from their head piece. I remember how big they were, tall, and mighty scary in their long black dresses with flowing head gear. I especially remember the large black leather belt that cinched their clothes tightly about them along with the yards of rosary beads that hung on their belt. The only thing missing was a gun, plastic gloves, and a Taser.

I also remember that they could get physical, beat the living daylights out of you. And when you went home…your parents finished off where the nuns left off. But I also remember some of the mean ones….the ones who actually used that leather belt to administer their punishment to a student’s legs. I pitied the girls who made that fatal error of wearing a skirt instead of slacks. I also remember the welts that the belt left behind.

I had a 7^th grade nun who was a bit off balanced and loved using her leather belt. She also broke her pointer in half over someone. But that didn’t stop her…Sr. Mary-Whatever-Your-Name…tied the pointer to her yardstick and used it to stab kids in the back if they annoyed her or they needed to be reprimanded.

Then there was the sweet little Irish nun who weighed about 80 pounds. She slammed one of the boys into the blackboard and broke it. Or the time she ripped off a girl’s blouse. Hey…there are so many stories that I could throw out there. But I bet you have at least one if you ever went to a Catholic school in the 50s and 60s.

Now there are not too many women who are nuns. Maybe that is a good thing but then again if they are still around, Thank God for Med Express.