Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

The Strap and Detention Miss Dukeshire Loses Her Cool
Discipline was rough and ready in the early decades of the school’s history.
• Physical punishment-a slap or grabbed by the collar or scruff of the neckwas
common. Some teachers, like the mighty Flo Mullock, had a reputation
for it. She could also shake a desk to “rattle your bones” says Earle Langille.
So was acceptance of such treatment. The Hirtle children of Warren [mayor
and school board chair] and his very caring wife, knew they would be summoned
to the porch, by mum, for the strap if they got out of line.
•The strap was used regularly- “Too much!” [in the words of Hope Hyson].
Philip Lohnes, the future mayor of Mahone Bay had been strapped on his
first day of school in 1923, when, as a primary student, he followed his sisters
through the girls only entrance. Students might be strapped for not having
work done. Mary Elizabeth Kedy[Smith] remembered being strapped for
not putting her hand up before approaching the teacher’s desk.
• There is one extreme story recorded in the minutes of the School Board.
Gladys Dukeshire, from Caledonia, was vice-principal for one year 1925-26.
The minutes record an extraordinary complaint and explanation at its April
23rd, 1926 meeting. Mr. Davis was present about a complaint that his son,
Llewelyn, had been strapped on the hands, back and face by Miss Dukeshire,
who had also told the boy that he behaved like “a cannibal” and that she
would not teach him again.
• Miss Dukeshire offered the following explanation, copied verbatim from
the minutes: The boy admitted throwing a board duster that [accidently]
broke a window. He had not tried to eat anybody:
You see my size and the boy’s: consider for yourself-am I capable of inflicting the
punishment Mr. Davis would have you believe I did?
I strapped him eight times on one hand, but when asked to hold out the other hand,
he refused. I then hit him, not over half a dozen times, on the back.
I consider Llewelyn a very poor pupil and disobedient. I have stayed after school
with him on a number of occasions to help him, and have done my best.
Today, in the new century, the teacher would have been suspended immediately,
until a full investigation, and would almost certainly not have taught
again. In 1925 no apologies were recorded, but Miss Dukeshire agreed to continue
to teach the boy. The minutes actually record Mr. Davis saying, “….he
was not complaining so much against the punishment as the refusal to teach the
child.’
In the 1930s H.V. Corkum insisted teachers record all administration of the
strap, then, later collected all the straps and administered the strapping himself.
This was very much the situation until the early 1980s when the new
South Shore District Board banned the strap and all corporal punishment.
Report Cards and Teachers
Courtesy: Earle Langille Collection
In September 1923, the Board passed a motion: We procure one thousand
“report cards.” The quotation marks are the secretary’s and, no doubt, were
used to illustrate the novelty of the idea and the item. This writer assumes
principal Langille should be given credit for the introduction of what is now
commonplace.
• Report Cards were a 1920s innovation. And they were exactly that: a
printed card that could be filled out both sides by the teacher. They reflect
the marks-tests-exams-pass-fail focus of the time. They were signed by the
teacher, sent out and returned [signed by a parent] at the end of each term. A
grading certificate was issued at the end of the year.
Earle Langille’s mother must have been proud of him. She kept every report
card. His marks and behaviour were good, and, appropriately he went on to
be a classroom teacher, school principal [he opened the new Hebbville Junior-Senior
High in [1960], Municipality of Lunenburg sub-system supervisor,
then assistant superintendent.]
He ran down the aisle. I followed, and as I caught hold of him he stumbled and fell.
I then hit him again over the back.
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