by WC1 » Thu Nov 13, 2008 11:09 pm
The belt (I never knew it as the 'tawse' or heard any of my colleagues refer to it as such) was indeed a barbaric instrument, but it was relatively effective in maintaining good order and discipline in the perhaps less enlightened times in which it was used. When I took up my first post in an inner city Glasgow comprehensive back in 1977, I was resolved to be a progressive teacher who would not use the belt under any circumstances. Whether by accident or design, I found myself timetabled for the third year bottom Geography section, composed mainly of the real bears, the sort of guys whose knuckles dragged along the floor of the corridor as they moved around the school. From day one they gave me a hard time and none of the ammunition in the progressive teacher's armoury had any effect. About three weeks in I had had enough. A pair of twins in the class were the ringleaders, so I sent one of them to the head of department with the request to borrow his belt. When he came back with it, I took him and his brother out into the corridor (never having used one before I didn't want to do it in front of the class in case I made a mess of it) and gave them four each. I had no trouble from them or the rest of the class from that day on. Next morning I found that the head teacher had put into my pigeon hole in the staffroom (the word must have got around) the Glasgow Corporation standard issue belt, a pathetic specimen that would hardly have been any use in swatting flies. With the assistance of my head of department, I sent off to J & J Dick, Saddlers, Main Street, Cowdenbeath, for the "extra-heavy Lochgelly". It cost £3.80 and was a fearsome thing with two tails, about and inch and a half wide and about half an inch thick. I don't think I ever used it. It lived in the top drawer of my desk and, at the start of each new school year, I would go through a pantomime of looking for something in the drawer, throwing its contents on to the top of the desk, then gathering it all back in again when I had found the object of the search. But the belt had been seen and that seemed to be enough. I have no doubts as to the effectiveness of the belt in its day, but its day is, thankfully, long gone.
WC1