Girls Gets Tawse Punishment On Hands
Chamar Riche
The tawse, sometimes formerly spelled taws (the plural of Scots taw, a thong of a whip) is an implement used for corporal punishment. It was used for educational discipline, primarily in Scotland, but also in schools in a few English cities e.g. Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, Liverpool, Manchester and Walsall.
Scottish state (public) schools used the tawse to punish pupils of either sex on the palm of the outstretched hand. Pupils were usually instructed to hold out one hand, palm uppermost, supported by the other hand below, which made it difficult to move the hand away during the infliction of the strokes. It also ensured that the full force of each stroke was taken by the hand being strapped. The punishment was usually inflicted by the class teacher in front of the entire class, to act as a deterrent to others; sometimes by a designated teacher, such as the Deputy Headmaster, to whom the pupil was sent.
In 1982, two Scottish mothers went to the European Court of Human Rights, who passed a judgment that parents had the right to refuse corporal punishment of a child.[3] This judgement led indirectly to the use of the tawse (and all other forms of corporal punishment) being banned by law in UK state schools. The legislation came into force in 1987, but most Scottish local education authorities had already abolished it by the early 1980s.
The tawse was also used for judicial corporal punishment in Scotland as an alternative to the more usual birch. Courts could sentence boys of over 14 but under 16 to up to 36 strokes with an extra-heavy tawse for any offence. This was administered to the offender's bare buttocks. Judicial corporal punishment was abolished in 1948.
The English began to limit the use of the cane in their schools in the 1960s. But the tawse remained popular in Scotland among parents and teachers. The available historical data is scant. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, 84% of boys and 57% of girls in comprehensive secondary schools claimed to have been belted, over a third of the boys saying it happened regularly. In 1972, according to teacher logs for that year, the belt was deployed 30,000 times on an Edinburgh school population of 80,000. Five hundred girls between the ages of five and eleven were among the 4,000 children belted in the spring of 1973 alone. That year the local education committee in Edinburgh voted to phase out corporal punishment, a decision abandoned after strong opposition from teachers and parents. According to a 1980 survey, only one in twenty Scottish boys escaped being belted during their entire school career.
The tawse, sometimes spelled taws (the plural of old Scots taw, thong of a whip), was the primary implement of educational corporal punishment. In Scotland, the tawse rigorously enforced and maintained classroom discipline. A tawse is a strip of leather, one end split into tails. The leather thickness is variable. Typically, pupils were instructed to hold out one hand, palm uppermost, supported by the other hand below. This arrangement made it difficult to move the hand away during the downstroke and ensured the full force was taken by the hand strapped. The punishment usually took place in front of the entire class, to act as a deterrent. A tawse-swasher was, therefore, one who wielded a tawse adroitly. There were many talented tawse-swashers.
Secondary school, despite my mum's assurances that 'it would be alright' and that 'the teachers took care of everyone, was a miserable time for me.
It was 1957 and I did not feel comfortable with the move from my primary school which seemed safe and nurturing, to this place...a huge - soot blackened building in a
part of Edinburgh deemed to be socially deprived. The school reminded me of a prison, with pupils as inmates and staff whose sole duty seemed to be the daily containment and control of us.
One teacher who took the English class, was an absolute tyrant who terrified everyone and appeared to delight in giving miscreants the 'belt'. (This was a leather strap known as a 'tawse' and commonly used as a punishment and deterrent in Scottish schools.)
Teachers had their favourite belts, some with two thongs...others with three, and it was a common sight for the leather monstrosity to be displayed on the teacher's desk in full view of the class as a warning. Fortunately for me, English was a fairly safe subject and I managed to escape her wrath. However - I DID receive the belt once and really through no fault of mine!
My usual bus was late and to my dismay, hurtled past my stop...the 'ding-ding-ding' bell being sounded by the conductress to instruct the driver that the bus was full and to 'drive right on'. I sat on the next bus, now almost twenty minutes late and felt sick with anxiety, praying that I might still reach the school before the last lines {of pupils) were marched in.
No such luck! The playground was ominously empty apart from a few stragglers 'captured' by the duty teacher and now corralled at the doorway.
My twelve-year-old legs turned to jelly as I realised I had been spotted, the teacher without speaking...pointing his finger in my direction and indicating that I should join the 'prisoners'.
He marched us to an empty classroom where, one by one, we were lined up to be punished. I was fourth in the 'queue' and waited, watching fearfully as he wielded the belt and hoping by some miracle that I might be spared. The boy behind me must have realised I was new to this, and with an authority obviously based on previous knowledge whispered...
'Now mind, dinnae cry oot when he belts ye. He's a bastard and enjoys hearin' us yell.' Ah did it once an' he jist laughed and gied me a double-hander.'
This did nothing to assuage my mounting terror as I watched. There was a specific technique to receiving the belt, requiring the victim to hold both hands out , palms upward and one hand supporting the other. The belt was not designed to draw blood but rather...to hurt, and one girl who was apparently a habitual latecomer, received a 'double-hander' which meant first one hand was belted, then the supporting hand was placed uppermost to receive the same treatment.
The pain must have been awful, yet she did not cry...or even flinch, and I had to admire her pluck. In fact, no-one cried, each one submitting themselves to the punishment then re-joining our little line of victims. It seemed to be a sign of weakness to show the teacher that he had actually hurt them, so I decided that I would have to follow suit. Any excuses or even attempts to offer legitimate reasons for being late were ignored by this teacher as, one by one, he positioned the hands and gasping with the exertion, wielded the belt.
The shock of the leather strap striking my outstretched palm, the pain...burning sensation and florid red mark on my hand...stayed with me for most of that day, the humiliation however - was much worse. Having to go into my class late, all eyes on me and my feeling that I had 'offender' stamped across my forehead, haunted me all day.
I chose not to tell my parents. I knew that they would be upset for me and also angry with the teacher. My mam...always so protective of her children...would have charged up to the school and demanded a full enquiry plus his resignation.
Another reason for not telling them was my feeling of shame. The belt had not only been painful but felt degrading. The mark on my hand was nothing compared to my bruised psyche. Corporal punishment was unheard of in my family, and I had never been smacked or even spoken harshly to by my parents.
I could not fathom why anyone legally had the right to whip a child with a leather strap. Being given the belt was tantamount to an assault and I found it difficult to think of any acceptable reason for an adult...especially a teacher...to believe such a barbaric punishment was justified.
I curled up in bed that night, almost in foetal position, the event playing over and over in my mind. Mam's words to me when I first enrolled at that school...assuring me that 'it would be alright...the teachers took care of everyone.' The streetwise boy in the queue advising me 'not to cry when belted', and the young girl who received the double punishment, appearing to accept this as an inevitable part of her life.
I pulled the quilt over my head, the feeling of helplessness and misery of the day overwhelming me...and I silently cried.
(a) Corporal punishment shall be only of a light and moderate character and shall be inflicted on the hands with a light cane or tawse as prescribed by the Secretary of State -- not exceeding three strokes on each hand.
[...] The terms of the model rule were settled after considerable discussion with representatives of the Managers and Superintendents of certified schools including girls' schools, and it was decided to limit the infliction of corporal punishment in girls' schools to three strokes on each hand with a light cane or tawse. The rule proposed by the Managers (which is based on the existing rule) would allow corporal punishment on the seat to be given at the discretion of the Superintendent and without any limitation as to the age of the girl to be punished or as to themethod of punishment. The model rules were intended to mark an advance in this and other directions and the Secretary of State regrets that he could not agree to so serious a modification.
Bizarrely, and in my view foolishly, the Code also specified that it be applied only on the hands; and there is no doubt that, in modern times, this was how the tawse was generally inflicted in Scottish schools.
Generally, however, the tawse in Scotland was given to both boys and girls on the hands, typically in front of the class. And it was applied remarkably frequently: a 1977 survey by the Educational Institute of Scotland (the teachers' trade union) found that 36% of 12-to-15-year-old boys were belted at least once in 10 school days; 21% of these were strapped three or more times in the same period.
aa06259810