A Thread of Words

[Bionic Jean]

How interesting Bette! Were they English, then?

[Leslie]

Jean wrote: "Leslie - yes I seem to remember it from schoolgirl books - and possibly Enid Blyton. Perhaps some classics too? ..."

One place I remember this is in the film of "Captains Courageous". Freddy Bartholomew plays a spoiled rich kid at a boarding school in the beginning of the film & is sent to Coventry (which the director made sure Americans would understand by having one student explain it to another!).

[B the BookAddict]

@Jean Nope, just Nuns!

[Bionic Jean]

Leslie - nice reference!

Bette - The more I think about this, the more awful I think it is. So the nuns ostracised children - and even worse encouraged the children to do that to each other??

I really feel sorry for those poor little girls. You know, I always think that teachers who bully kids probably have to bolster their poor self-image up somehow, and those who encourage kids to laugh at each other or similar - well it just makes me see red!

Having a little rant here - sorry, I'm very much a carrot rather than stick sort of person! But I'm fearful for any child who has to put up with a cruel regime at school.

So ... are there any other equivalents in other languages I wonder? Perhaps not.

[LauraT]

Thanks Jean, interesting

[Leslie]

Jean wrote: "I really feel sorry for those poor little girls. You know, I always think that teachers who bully kids probably have to bolster their poor self-image up somehow, and those who encourage kids to laugh at each other or similar - well it just makes me see red! ..."

I'm going to play devil's advocate here: this form of punishment doesn't necessarily mean bullying - the punishment could be deserved. Sending a child to Coventry is MUCH better than whipping or rapping them with a ruler (or any other corporal punishment) in my opinion!

[Bionic Jean]

Well yes, but isn't that rather like asking a man if he's stopped beating his wife yet? (Corporal punishment is illegal here now by the way.)

Neither methods set a good example to children. I agree that ignoring a child for a short time could be effective I guess, but I'd hesitate to use such a strategy myself, for fear of the other children copying the adult's example, and extending it to use in a group situation in order to bully a chosen victim. You can withdraw privileges, and choose to give less attention to a child, but "sending someone to Coventry" is too extreme - in my opinion.

Sorry, nuns! I do accept that it's better than beating. But we have to consider the health of both the mind and the body, don't we?

[B the BookAddict]

Sad to say we were smacked/hit too, but I'd never say beaten. Getting sent to Coventry was just an accepted practice, I suppose, or could have been typical of only the nuns at my school. Only Form 1 and Form 2 nuns used it. The kids were adult enough to ignore it after that. Mum thought it was an awful thing.

But hey, I'm here, it didn't do me any ongoing harm. I've seen some schoolkids these days and think they could possibly do with some sort of discipline.

[Bionic Jean]

Aw Bette :( It sounds awful.

The kids I taught seem to be passing on good manners and respect to their own kids, which is great for me to see :)

I'm still not sure if we're talking about the idea, or the expression though. Did those nuns actually use the words "being sent to Coventry"?

[B the BookAddict]

Yes, they did. Or "I am putting you in Coventry for the rest of the day".

[Bionic Jean]

Thanks. So it got as far as Australia! Interesting :) It must have seemed even more unfathomable there.

[Alice]

I went to a Convent school, but we didn't have the "Coventry" punishment. The worst that could happen to a girl was to get detained for a couple of hours in the library after class. But my complaint is that the school is a snobbish one, and tended to treat with a condescending attitude the class that consisted of selected students with good grades from government primary schools (these all came from less well-off families, and I was one of them). For example, students from this particular class were not allowed to take French, while the other three classes with students coming straight from the Convent's expensive primary school had the automatic right.

[Bionic Jean]

Hair-raising stories!

[LauraT]

Even if childhood and adolescence are supposed to be the better years of people's lives, they're sometimes such nightmares one can hardly be glad enough when they're over!!!!

[Bionic Jean]

True, sadly.