Gleaning Facebook: The Board of Education

I rescued this well-used paddle from one of my schools. It was abandoned in the desk drawer of some classroom I inherited along the way. I am frustrated that I cannot swear whether I brought this south from West Virginia, or whether it came from McHenry. I think it is from McHenry. Anyway, I've had it for a half-century. As you can see it split at some point and was mended with first-aid tape. I wonder whose backside broke it! The first paddle I used as a teacher was about this size and was wrapped in black electrical tape. The kids gave it the honorific title "The Black Dragon". Yes, peace-loving Terrell, who had bragged that he would never stoop to corporal punishment, gave his fair share of paddlings between 1969 and 1977. I don't believe I ever spanked a child after I left McHenry in 1977 -- except that Brannon and Lillian each got one very light spanking. Neither worked well, and both made me more miserable than them by a long shot.
(Here's the story of the first I administered.)

Raymond Atkins
Ah, man, a Board of Education. I'll behave the rest of the day from just looking at it...

Terrell Shaw
So, old dogs CAN learn? 

Terrell Shaw
I remember waiting my turn in fourth grade. Miss Brown had sent me and a buddy to visit "Wild Bill" Cody, our principal. But he had to administer the "Board of Education" to an older boy first. We witnessed that big ol' principal's desk move about four inches in the grip of that young man, propelled by the force of the paddle to his backside.
I suppose our faces communicated our resolve to change our ways. Mr. Cody decided a warning was sufficient for us fourth-graders… this time.