A few weeks ago, I waxed nostalgic about the one-room schoolhouse era in Bradford West Gwillimbury. But there was one aspect of schooling in that era that no one would fondly remember: the practice of strapping.
This form of discipline, thankfully abolished from Ontario’s schools, was an accepted part of the educational system from the time the first schools began to appear. Bradford children were certainly not immune.
Strapping, often incorrectly referred to as lashing or whipping, was a form of spanking using a leather strap. Rarely was it employed on the buttocks; almost always, strapping was done on the child’s open hand. The strap itself was a broad, heavy and flexible strip of tanned leather. There would be a hole in one end so the strap could be hung from a hook in plain sight of the students, representing a silent but ever-present threat intended to keep them in line. Sometimes the strap would have a wooden hand to make it easier for the teacher to grip.
Incredible as it might sound, catalogues — like Sears and Eaton’s — offered straps for sale to harried teachers.
Why was the strap so widely used? Without condoning the brutal and archaic form of discipline, we must remember that throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century, strapping — or other forms of physical discipline — were socially acceptable in the household. Additionally, many of the teachers in earlier eras, particularly in rural areas, would be young women physically smaller and perhaps even younger than some of their male students.
It was a different era, one when students tested teachers in ways we couldn’t imagine today. One teacher I read about was forcibly thrown out the door of the school and promptly quit. Another, a new teacher in nearby Glenville, arrived at her school at the beginning of the school year to find the door blocked by cordwood. It was a test. She impressed her new students by climbing through a window and holding class while the boys restacked every piece of firewood.
But even when a teacher resorted to strapping, there were limits. Abusing the authority, or excessive use of the strap, could see teachers relieved of their duties or brought up on charges.
Like the one-room schoolhouses they served in, the strap has gone out of style.
