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panking was just one of many humiliations the misbehaving child had to fear in my elementary school, Riverheads Elementary, a small public school north of Greenville in Augusta County, Virginia. Spanking was generally regarded as the absolutely most humiliating form of punishment both by teachers and by pupils. Children would face the inevitability of a paddling with utter despondent dread, knowing full well that fellow classmates would be relishing the plump pops of the spanks that would soon report from the "privacy" of the spanking chamber.

The spankings were usually carried out just beyond the view of other students, usually in a utility closet. All the same, the punishments were never out of earshot. For a spanking to have been done completely in private would have eliminated the greatest fraction of its punishing effect. You see, the pain inflicted was trivial compared to the humiliation, which set an example to other students: "Behave yourselves or yee too shall be made to bend over and be spanked!"

The pain inflicted was trivial compared to the humiliation, which set an example to other students: "Behave yourselves or yee too shall be made to bend over and be spanked!"

Another teacher was always present to "observe" the procedings. This was apparently a requirement of Virginia law and served to protect the teacher should permanent damage be inflicted. The fact that a paddling required two teachers had the side benefit of doubling the audience for every such procedure, since all the students in the room of the teacher called upon to observe had their attentions added to those of the students in the class of the child actually being paddled.

Teachers all had their favourite spanking implements. My fourth grade math teacher, Mr. Desper, had a paddle named "Alfonso" and it supposedly had holes drilled in it to increase its rump-swatting sting. My friend Nathan VanHooser met Alfonso's wrath one day after a little horseplay in class. In that particular case, the humiliation was not done in private at all; it was done at the sliding divider between two class rooms.

The children who were spanked were not usually the worst behaved ones. I, for example, was notoriously poorly behaved, but I always managed to avoid the ultimate sanction. Children who were spanked were often chosen by a teacher who happened to be in a bad mood (after the child failed to sense this and proceded to make what often amounted to a relatively minor infraction). There may have also been psycho-sexual reasons for why certain children were chosen for paddlings and others were not.

The teacher would always go directly back to teaching as though nothing had happened, usually with a voice calmed by a now magnanimous feeling of power.

The naughty child was usually requested to bend over and grab his or her ankles. Resistance was utterly futile and I never knew of a child dragged kicking and screaming to a paddling. No, spanking was carried out with the dispassionate efficiency of a nazi deathcamp (not to make light of the Holocaust by any means). Then the spanking would begin. Pop! (long hushed pause during which nothing could be done by all of us students listening...) Pop! (we would now assume the spanking was over, but no...) Pop! then Pop! If there were more spanks, we would find ourselves grinning in horrified glee at how very naughty our classmate must have been. We could usually tell that the spanking had reached its end when we heard calm voices mumbling to one another in the spanking chamber. We'd silently smirk at one another, gloating at our unfortunate comrade's misery. At this point the spanked child would emerge from the spanking chamber followed closely by the teacher who had performed the miracle of discipline. The child would never have any discernable look on his or her face. No, maybe a flush of embarrassment, but never an emotion. And the teacher would always go directly back to teaching as though nothing had happened, usually with a voice calmed by a now magnanimous feeling of power.

The spanking of children in public schools struck me at the time (and continues to strike me) as exotic in almost a compelling way. I had attended school in the DC suburbs and the thought of spanking a child there was indeed a very alien concept. But in Virginia, the teachers could spank. And they did. Pop! Pop! Pop!


the Gus

Related Spanking Links

Parenting Tips on Spanking-Goofy fundamentalists have all the answers. Here they provide advice on when and how hard to wield the rod that must not be spared.

Corporal Punishment of Children-An overview of spanking related to legal and psychological issues.

The Sexual Dangers of Spanking Children-A compelling case is made here that spanking is a form of sexual trespass and a tradition-sanctioned form of pedophilic rape.

Laura's Spanking Corner-On the other hand, you may have fond memories of those spankings you've deserved and received. Perhaps erotic spanking stories are more along the line of what you want. These are pretty good.