Teachers in article bring back terrible memories of the nuns in my elementary school. They slapped kids. Threw a kid at the blackboard which came crashing down. Put kids in the wastepaper basket while mocking them openly for a shirt sticking out of their pants. ...too many disturbing memories
My fourth grade teacher picked me up by my hair and told me to stop talking, then not so gently put me back in my seat. Guess what? I did not speak out of turn again.
Sister Mary Charles Bronson
No kidding. I did 12 yrs in Catholic schools, with the parish grade school having the most sadistic nuns. They threw erasers across the room, told you you were going to hell for wasting paper, routinely slapped and spanked students, and used verbal abuse.
I had one piano teacher who would rap my hands with a baton when I played a wrong note. It's a wonder I play anymore at all. In prep school, Sister Superior grabbed one girl, threw her into the bathroom and washed the makeup from her face. At the beginning of the school year, we all had to kneel and make sure our skirts touched the floor. If it didn't, you got a whack w/the yardstick.
I appreciate my Catholic school education; at the prep school level it was outstanding. However, I think a lot of the nuns had real issues, whether it was with children, black children, being a nun, or whatever. Many of them should have used their vocation in other ways.