christ-on-a-stick

Today I was ruminating on some of the aspects of my fundy upbringing and had some sudden realizations about the school that I was sent to (a VERY small Pre-K through 6th grade fundamentalist Christian school - small as in 15-20 students per class and only one class per grade, so an approximate total of only 160 or so kids in a whole elementary school).

Anyway, although I have always remembered the many negative experiences I had in my years there (pre-k through 5th grade when we went overseas), I never fully thought about/realized how truly abusive an environment it was, both emotionally and physically.

This school routinely meted out corporal discipline (spanking with a huge wooden paddle) without consulting the parent (i.e. the parents knew that spanking would be done but were not asked permission in each case.) I realize that this is probably true for many fundy schools and doesn't seem shocking or surprising, one of my most vivid memories of an instance of being spanked is, IMO, pretty off-the-wall.

I was in fourth grade (9 yrs old) and one day our female principal came in and wanted to talk to our class sternly about the dangers and evils of some of the books kids our age were now reading... books by Judy Blume. She started off by asking if any of us had read any of them. I, being CLUELESS as to her total wacked-out-hysteria, raise my hand and say yes, all of them. The look that comes over her face immediately tells me that I have made a big, BIG mistake... she then snarls (with barely contained disgust)"really? and where did you get them?" to which I replied honestly "from my parents" at which point she FREAKED, dragged me off to her office and smacked the hell out of my butt with her evil paddle (the kind with holes in it for extra *hurt*) and all the while saying things like "so, you like that kind of trash? the dirty stuff she talks about? this will teach you to fill your mind with that garbage..." etc., etc. Keep in mind that the "filthy stuff" she was talking about was primarily a)"toilet talk" and minorly sexual material in "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret".

But the point is that despite the inanity of what she was considering "filthy", I remember soooooo horribly clearly being absolutely, utterly confused, not understanding how she could be PUNISHING ME FOR READING BOOKS MY PARENTS GAVE ME. The humiliation in front of the rest of the class was also pretty awful.

On the brighter side and to their credit my parents FREAKED when I told them what happenned, came in the next day and ripped her a new one. On the not-so-bright side this incident still didn't open their eyes to the bizzare and ridiculous nature of this school's ideology and I stayed there for another year and a half. Also, after this incident I was REALLY on the principal's shit-list and my remaining time there was even more unpleasant for it.

Anyway, as I was thinking about this particular lovely memory it really struck me just how wrong her behavior really was - not just a "slightly harsher than necessary" punishment, but out-and-out abusive. All in the name of Xianity.

So, anyone else have similar experiences at the hands of rabid-fundy-educators on a mission to forcibly cleanse the hearts and souls of 4th-graders from the dangers of potty-talk?

[ May 21, 2002: Message edited by: christ-on-a-stick ]</p>

Hobbs

Christ on a stick, christ-on-a-stick, that is one sick story. How can their little fundy minds have been so twisted to think like that?

My memory of a fundy school is the one my mother enrolled me in to attend junior high / high school (8th to 12th grades). I was all set to start the following year, and then my father got transferred, and we moved 1,000 miles away, and I attended a high quality public school system. I'm almost tempted to thank God for saving me from that impending fundy school experience. (I doubt they beat kids in high school, but I shudder to think of what they would have tried to do to my mind.)

Godless Dave

Not only that, but she was punishing you for honestly answering a question she had asked!

Richard1366

This didn't happen at a "fundy" school, but at a private school, and many years ago when I was in elementary school. If someone misbehaved and was to be punished, you were taken to the front of the class where the teacher (woman) stated that if you misbehaved then she wasn't doing her job well enough and it was her fault...then she took out a stick (like a heavy ruler) and made you whack her on her outstretched hands, no light taps were allowed, you really had to inflict pain on her. This requirement brought even the toughest of guys to tears and they never got in the position where they had to do that again.

I guess, however, if a teacher tried that today, the kid would mug her and steal her purse....

Boro Nut

Yeah I can sympathise. I went to a Catholic infants school and remember being visited by one of the old pupils who had risen to the rank of cardinal. I wasn't taking much notice of what he was saying, and when he reprimanded me I told him to fuck off.

Well, he went apoplectic, ranting and raving. Snot dripping from his nose and everything. He was telling me how he was born and bred in the same area and studied hard at the same school. Dragged himself up from nothing. Worked his way up through the priesthood and made something of himself, until he gained his position in the vatican, with every possibility of being the next Pope!!

He grabbed me by the lapels and said "..and a snotty nosed little urchin who knows nothing about anything has the AUDACITY to tell me to fuck off?? No son. YOU FUCK OFF!"

Boro Nut

invictus58

One of my friends did a report last year on stuff like that. It's perfectly legal in 27 US states to beat the children as punishment. By beat I'm not talking about a smack on the hand, I'm talking about hitting the kid hard with a wooden paddle in front of the other kids. This is not just little kids, this is public high school. Is it just me or is that really screwed up? I, myself, have never had to deal with anything like that in my privite (non-religious) school.

[ May 23, 2002: Message edited by: invictus58 ]</p>

Ezra

I went to an orthodox Jewish school. Memorable moment:

"The Torah says nothing about the dinosaurs, so did God create them, and when?"

"God can do anything he wants, maybe he puts the fossils there just to fool us."

The best part is this was delivered with a completely straight face as part of my "education".

GodlessGirlWonder

When I lived in Indianapolis, I went to a Catholic school on the Westside. While I never had any truly bad experiences there (save for the brain-washing, "Jesus Loves You," and all the rest of that religious crap), my best friend had a quite horrible experience.

During her eighth grade year at the aforementioned Catholic school, my best friend began practicing Wicca. Of course, this was an extremely "Christian" environment, so she didn't proclaim it for all to hear, but she did tell some people, and they were fine with it. Her classmates didn't really care one way or the other, and her parents got used to it after a while.

However, the school officials got wind of it and were absolutely appalled (even though they knew next to nothing about Wicca). So, they called in someone from the archdiocese, or one of those Catholic places that I never really paid attention to, and this man came to the school to have a conference with the students and the parents.

Well, at first, the man was trying to say that she [my best friend] was lost and all that, but that the school and the church should open their hearts to her and try to show her the way, yadda, yadda, yadda... But then, the parents of the students got to put their two cents in, and she ended up being berated about how they had put their children into a Catholic school to keep them away from such evils as Wicca (again, they knew nothing about it, except what they'd been told by other people who knew nothing about it either) and that she wasn't welcome because she was evil and a sinner, and blah, blah, blah. And, in the end, the man from the archdiocese or wherever just ended up basically agreeing with them.

Needless to say, she spent the rest of the day crying in the bathroom, and the remainder of her eighth grade year was less than pleasant. But she never let their fear and intolerance break her faith.

Note that I wasn't attending the school at the time that this occured, so this story is all second-hand through my best friend. It still scares the hell out of me though, to imagine what kind of shit I would have faced had I still been at that school when I became an atheist.

It's not nearly as frightening as being beaten over reading some Judy Blume books, though. It makes me wonder what that woman (or people like her) would do to a student like me, who reads books by Vladimir Nobokov and the Marquis de Sade... I mean, seriously, I'm still in shock; who beats a kid over Judy Blume?!

ARGH! <img src="graemlins/banghead.gif" border="0" alt="[Bang Head]" />

[ May 27, 2002: Message edited by: GodlessGirlWonder ]</p>

Crazeegirly

I hate to say this but the experience of the Principal whipping you over reading Judy Blume books does not surprise me. It appalls me though! I was also sent to a fundy Baptist school for 8 school years, graduating from there unfortunately. I remember a teacher that was employed there when I was in 2nd-6th grade. This man lived to terrorize kids. This one year he had a special needs child in his class (I think it was a 6th grade class). Barely a week would go by that this boy wouldn't be subjected to unbelieveable torture by this S.O.B. One day this boy came in to the lunch room with his mouth duct taped shut. I remember thinking how is this guy getting away with doing this? Why don't any of the teachers do something about it??? I remember being "picked on" by a guy teacher who was the father of one of my classmates. This guy especially liked to give us girls a very hard time. He would come up to you and rap you on the head for no good reason. I was literally terrified of this prick! And my Dad and Mom wonder why I'm so weird. LoL! I remember being sent to the office in 3rd grade for chasing boys at recess. I mean god, how dare children show any interest in the opposite sex at such a young age. How sinful and awful. I swear there was nothing but a bunch of power trippin', perverted adults employed there. Now when I drive by the church and school I say f*ck 'em all. Oh yeah, and I tell everyone who mentions this place to never ever send their kids there.

I have a special needs child, and he is home-schooled because of all the crap I witnessed during my time in school, but especially due to what went on at that fundy school. I *do not* trust ANY fundy's!

~Crazeegirly~