The Pen Is Mightier Than The Sword

[Less]

But is it mightier than the teachers cane?

I ask this question because an advert from Which magazine showed a fountain pen and a bottle of ink.

At first I just thought 'that's an old fashioned image', then I started thinking about my school days.

The first pen that I used was basically a wooden stick with a scratchy nib in it that had to be dipped into an inkwell filled with special school quality goo, it can't really be described as ink.

Imagine giving those sharp instruments to a 7 year old these days (they really could take someones eye out).

When I was about 8 I got a fountain pen for Christmas, it had a blunt nib that allowed your writing to flow rather than just scrawling across the page and you filled it by squeezing a rubber tube held inside the main barrel.

After the holidays I proudly took it to school with me I wasn't the only one several others had had a similar gift.

The English teacher declared that anyone using such a device would have to use ink from the wells she didn't want different shades of blue in her classroom. These things were built for proper ink not school glue the first fill up clogged the rubber tube and blocked the nib rendering my new device useless.

A year or so later I got a cartridge pen as a gift, these had a little plastic tube that you replaced whenever you ran out of ink. We still had the same teacher, she now announced that such pens would not be tolerated in her class again she claimed the ink we use should be school ink.

back to using the scratchy stick.

On reaching the age of 11 a move up to secondary school the beginnings of a new adventure and my parents had bought me a high quality new fangled ball point pen to carry around in my pencil case.

A new English teacher and he on seeing me writing with this item literally jumped from the front of the class, grabbed it from my hand and smashed it against the wall whilst stating that 'anyone he caught trying to use these modern pieces of rubbish would in future get six of the best', (for those of you too young to know, this meant three lashes of the cane on each hand).

The years went by, I was able to say goodbye to this Neanderthal as I went up to the senior years.

However although we were now thought responsible enough to be allowed a choice of writing implement, I fell foul of the Geography teacher.
Obviously we would have to draw maps and diagrams of the workings of an artesian well and so on, these would have to be handed in having been brought to life using crayons.

What had I got that Christmas? Well, I had been bought a set of felt tipped pens, so I set about my homework with gusto far neater and brighter charts of the height of mountains and the eruptions of volcano's.

What did I get from the Geography teacher? a months detention and the threat of the cane if I dared use them again.

I wonder when the kids of a few years ago first got access to a family computer and therefore producing printed diagrams and homework, did they also find their teachers reluctant to take on the practical use of their new fangled devices?

I suppose when calculators first came out the kids that took them to school got into bother as well?

Have teachers always been against progress? If so, how did classes ever evolve from a slate and chalk board for practising their hand writing?

[Gremlin]

My proudest memory of my infants school was being made "Ink monitor" for the week.
I had to mix the powder and water to make the ink and then pour some into each desk's inkwell.

[DaveinGermany]

And here's me thinking you owd codgery types used Styli & wax tablets.

[Gremlin]

Only in the first year Dave, once we we proved we could be trusted we got the stick with a pointy nib.

[Less]

One of the best teaching aids in history was of course the cane what better way to punish a child for bad handwriting was there than to give him a few strokes of it across the hand and then expect him to hold his pen and actually write ANYTHING?
🤗

[Retlaw]

Originally Posted by Less

One of the best teaching aids in history was of course the cane what better way to punish a child for bad handwriting was there than to give him a few strokes of it across the hand and then expect him to hold his pen and actually write ANYTHING?
🤗

Had cane on my backside all thro schoo, wooden ruler on hands, and open hand on back ot head, and toe o me dads boot if I complained, "tha musta bin doin sumat wrong"

[Less]

Originally Posted by Retlaw

Had cane on my backside all thro schoo, wooden ruler on hands, and open hand on back ot head, and toe o me dads boot if I complained, "tha musta bin doin sumat wrong"

All very well, IF you've done something wrong, not alright though if the teacher is a sadistic bully and your parents trusting him because he was classed as one of their 'betters'.

Do you remember the board duster?

A 4 inch long lump of heavy wood with some padding.

All teachers seemed to think it reasonable to throw it across the room at some offending child.

One of my teachers threw one, missed the lad, the lad picked it up and threw it straight back, got the teacher right between the eyes, ambulance called, he was off for nearly 3 months recovering, I bet it's the last time he threw it at the schools star fast bowler!

[Margaret Pilkington]

I was only ever given the cane once...and it was my choice.
It was either the cane or two dishonour points and that week I had earned ten honour points( which meant my name would appear on the honours board). Two dishonour points would dash my chances to be on the honours board. So I took six of the best.
The teacher who meted out this punishment said I took the cane better than many boys.
Oh, and my punishment was for answering back.

Milton Suthers our Maths teacher was a board duster whizzer. He rarely hit anyone, but I feel sure this was by design as he was an ace cricketer who bowled for the Ribblesdale Cricket team.....and I'm sure he could have taken the head off Roy Wallace( the class bad boy) if he had wanted.

[Margaret Pilkington]

And we could write with any kind of pen we wanted.
I still use dip pens for my calligraphy.

[Less]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

And we could write with any kind of pen we wanted.
I still use dip pens for my calligraphy.

One of my brothers suffers the same hobby and does it beautifully, but I defy either he or you to do the same with the old school pens!

Plus to get the ink to stick to a new nib we would have to lick it first, hows that for hygiene?

[Less]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

I was only ever given the cane once...and it was my choice.
It was either the cane or two dishonour points and that week I had earned ten honour points( which meant my name would appear on the honours board). Two dishonour points would dash my chances to be on the honours board. So I took six of the best.

Honour Points? Honour points? we wore the scars of our honour points across our hands, that was the only system in place.

First week at the secondary school we met the music teacher for the first time, now she was one sick bitch, called all the boys to the front of the class and gave us all the cane on each hand, telling us she doesn't cane the girls but if any of the girls misbehave she will pick 3 boys to cane instead.
She and the Gym teacher were caught in a rather uncompromising position and dismissed a couple of years later, after all that is not what one normally does with a plimsoll after sharing the girls shower!

[Margaret Pilkington]

Less, I still have an old school dip pen and I can use it for calligraphy, but as I have got older my hands have become a bit shaky at times. This pen nib is very fine and my shakes show...So I prefer the broader nibs as they are kinder to me.

[Margaret Pilkington]

It was far harder to get merit points than to get demerit points.
Less, you have left me wondering which school you attended. The teachers do seem to be barbaric.

[Less]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

It was far harder to get merit points than to get demerit points.
Less, you have left me wondering which school you attended. The teachers do seem to be barbaric.

Margaret, I can only work with what I experienced, my first two years of schooling were an absolute dream, wonderful and kind teachers at St James in Clitheroe then we moved, industrial town, industrial attitudes at the larger schools, learning suddenly stopped being a pleasure and remained that way until I left school and started learning at night school and colleges.
They made up for all the wasted years of so called primary and secondary teachers.

[Margaret Pilkington]

How very sad Less. I enjoyed most of my school life(well except for sport and netball).
I had some teachers who took a real interest in my progress. One of these was Miss Croston...she taught Art and English and it was her first placement after graduating(I think).
I am pleased that your bad experiences were (to some degree) erased by your learning experience in higher education.
Higher education is a lot different to attending school though.
You are legally bound to go to school, but higher education is a choice. Learners who choose to educate themselves do far better than those who are forced into education.
I spent a lot of time in trying to make up for the window gazing I did when I should have been paying attention.