Unruly Boys 1903

Before the Bench March 1903
Several unruly boys, who have deep rooted aversion to the curriculum of the elementary schools, have occupied the attention of the Island magistrates lately.

In one case, the boy was stated to have pelted with stones the School Attendance Officer who was trying to persuade him to go to school, and in another the father was alleged to have literally hauled his unruly offspring to school by means of a rope.  It was sensibly suggested by Admiral de Horsey in this latter case, that the rope’s end might have been more effectively used.

In the other when the father was admonished by the Bench to correct his boy, he said he was afraid to do so, for when he only threatened to chastise the urchin he had “the Inspector over from Ryde the very next day” to look into the matter.

We have the deepest respect for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, but we consider if it intervenes between the natural right of a parent to correct a boy in the only manner in which many boys can be corrected, it is doing considerable harm.  In fact, the case, as put by this poor man, showed that he was much to be pitied.  He was a labourer, and obliged to be out at his work long before the time his son had to leave for school.  He had therefore no possible time for ascertaining if the boy was actually at school, so that to be worried by a School Attendance Officer on  the one hand, and by an Inspector on the other, and in the end heavily fined into the bargain, must have been exasperating in the extreme.

If parents dare not correct their children in the good old-fashioned way for not going to school, then it is cruel to mulct them in a heavy fine, because fear of physical pain is the only thing that appeals to some boys, and the stronger and more vigorous the boy, the greater the necessity for wholesome punishment.

Note:
Elementary schools were the first schools in England and Wales intended to give a basic education to the children of working class families. At the start of the 19th century, the only schooling available to these young people was run by private concerns or by charities, and was often of a very poor standard.  Elementary schools were eventually replaced in 1944 by the system of primary and secondary education.

The Image of Oakfield School, does not imply that the unruly boys were from that school.

Sources: IW Observer, Wikipedia & RSHG
Image: RSHG  & Steve King
Article: Ann Berrett