Teachers Fined for Brutal Discipline
A husband-and-wife teaching team is fined for excessive corporal punishment in a local schoolroom.
At Chewelah, Wash., after a sensational trial lasting two days before a justice, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Barnes, teachers in the public school here, were fined $100 and costs for brutally beating a son of William Pofer. The evidence showed that Mrs. Barnes wore out switch after switch, and while waiting for more from the pupils, whipped him until she was exhausted, then her husband came to her aid. The boy shows marks of his frightful punishment. An appeal to the superior court has been taken.
“Mrs. Barnes wore out switch after switch, and while waiting for more from the pupils, whipped him until she was exhausted.”
This report highlights the transition in American education away from the severe corporal punishment that was once considered a routine aspect of classroom management.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.