Spare the rod. What does that mean?
What exactly does ‘spare the rod and
spoil the child’ mean, asks Joseph Breig, writing in the Catholic
Times in 1959. If a child is a minor (meaning aged under 21) should we spank
college students and soldiers?
As published in the Catholic Times
(Columbus, Ohio. USA), 13 November 1959.
Picture credit: Unknown.
Traditional School Discipline
Traditionalschooldiscipline@gmail.com
If you leave the rod hanging up, unused, 'spare', it is spoiling the child who needs it. This is a saying quoted by those who believed that naughty boys should be beaten. Hardly nowadays, except perhaps in the imagination, but, in its time, a good dose of the rod across the buttocks was deemed to be a worthy punishment for bad behaviour. I do wonder whether anyone dared to refuse to bend downbwhen told to?
ReplyDeleteWell i have had many a caning in the 50s / 60s and 70s. My head teachers from being 8
DeleteFrom your unfinished sentence it looks as if you have more to say. Please don't be shy; let us have it. Thank you. If you really were caned both in the 50's and in the 70's they must have started on you early and finished late...
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