Lost Villages - School House

[Manfred M]

School Section #17 Schoolhouse

This one room school house was in use from 1870 through to 1950. A couple of exterior and interior shots.
Shot on the Fujifilm GFX100s ii and Fujinon f/4 45-100mm lens (FF equivalent 36-79mm)

A total of 10 villages were "lost" through flooding in 1958 when the area was flooded to build the St Lawrence Seaway.

[C J Southern]

The school desk in the foreground took me back over 1/2 a century; very similar to what I had at school. I don't think we had the groove at the back, but did still have an ink well.

The good old days of fountain pens and blotting paper - and snap inspections from the head master to ensure we were keeping their contents tidy!

[Manfred M]

The school desk in the foreground took me back over 1/2 a century; very similar to what I had at school. I don't think we had the groove at the back, but did still have an ink well.

The good old days of fountain pens and blotting paper - and snap inspections from the head master to ensure we were keeping their contents tidy!

I remember those desks from my earliest school days as well. That would have been in the early 1960s. It was an older urban school building. At the end of the fourth grade we moved to a newer suburban area and the school had more modern metal and laminate construction desks.

[Round Tuit]

You two are making me feel old. I first sat at one of those desk in 1953!

[C J Southern]

You two are making me feel old. I first sat at one of those desk in 1953!

You beat me by a few years!

I have an "interesting" memory of them. In my early days at school we were put into small groups by the teacher to work on something. My group got to do it's collective thinking in the sand pit ... until the temptation to play got the better of us. I got caught by the teacher who stood me up in class and asked who else was playing ... and I dobbed in each and every one of my class mates For being honest, the teacher didn't punish me - thus I stored it in my brain that if you confess to something you don't get in trouble.

Many years later the headmaster addressed the class to ask which of us had been defacing desks - and a few of us put our hands up (even though I hadn't been) (thinking at the time that people who confess don't get punished). It "didn't go as planned" that time; he told us how disappointed he was in us - gave us a screwdriver - and make us turn the tops over.

Another life lesson earned.

Whilst on the topic, I learned another social lesson whilst there; the swimming pool was partially filled and one of the students said it needed to have the leaves pulled out - and that we had permission to do it. So I - and a few others - took off our sandles and got in to clean it out (the water was only a few inches deep). Turns out he didn't have permission - and I ended up getting the strap on my hand (the only corporal punishment I ever received throughout my schooling years).

Plot twist: The head master turned out to be quite the bully - and I was quite terrified of him; he even threatened to "box my ears" on one occasion - and it probably didn't help that the girl who stood on a nail from the "spaceship" we built was his daughter. Because of him I ended up changing schools to a much bigger (and far better equipped) one where the headmaster was really nice.

[Round Tuit]

You beat me by a few years!

... I ended up getting the strap on my hand (the only corporal punishment I ever received throughout my schooling years).
...

The strap seems to have been the punishment of choice in those days. I managed to avoid it at school but at home is a different story. Today's approach to disciplining kids is definitely more civilized.

[LenR]

"Six of the Best" on the rear end with a yard stick in my day.....

[C J Southern]

The strap seems to have been the punishment of choice in those days. I managed to avoid it at school but at home is a different story. Today's approach to disciplining kids is definitely more civilized.

For us it was the strap at primary school (so up to about age 11) then the cane for high school. The headmaster at intermediate school tried punishments like making the offenders mow the laws with a petrol mower ... a punishment the offenders asked if they could carry on with because they enjoyed it. These days a principal would be sacked for using a strap - sacked for using a cane - and sacked for making kids use a lawn mower.

The corporal punishment thing and it's subsequent banning were an interesting dynamic to watch unfolding here. I'm of the opinion that the most important thing is that people receive an appropriate consequence for antisocial behaviour. Over here we had one group who didn't know of any other types of punishment other than strap/cane (etc) - so they equated "not being allowed to use corporal punishment" as "not being allowed to use any punishment" and on the other side we had people who's use of violence was never punishment in the frst place; it was only ever abuse.

Personally, I think one of the biggest failings of society currently is not ensuring antisocial behaviour gets some form of negative consequence so that there's a disincentive for repeating the behaviour ... but I digress!

[C J Southern]

"Six of the Best" on the rear end with a yard stick in my day.....

I recall a teacher at High School by the name of Mr Hathaway (nickname "Fish") who taught Latin.

Legend has it that he would stop the cane a short distance from the target and the flex in it would deliver severe consequences - even drawing blood on occasions.

I'm not quite sure how much of that withstood the scrutiny of applied physics, but I was sure on my best behaviour the one time I ended up in his class!