Last Updated on 2016-05-19 , 1:54 pm
If you were of primary school or secondary school age in the 90s, you will know these embarrassing and rather painful punishments that would have been lashed out onto you if you were naughty or made any mistakes. Back then, we all wished we could grow up quickly so that we could escape all these. Today, most of us probably have our own kids and may be unleashing the same kind of punishments on them.
Caning
I got caned until I was about…16? My mum never believed in sparing the rod and spoiling the child. The cane was the most feared item in the household and each time any one of us knew we screwed up, we knew it was time for us to face the Rotan. Some parents even went the extra mile and got their children who were about to be punished to choose the color of the cane they preferred. You can imagine the cries of anguish ringing throughout the neighborhood usually around results time. “Mummy I don’t want! I don’t want!” Sounds familiar?
Using a metal ruler on our knuckles
This was done in school when we forgot to do our homework or failed in a class test. Your teacher would make all the students line up in front of her table and make them hold out and clench their hands, knuckle up. If you were lucky, a wooden ruler would be used. If not, a metal one will cause you that much more pain.
Standing outside the classroom
This was more of a stab to your ego than anything else. When a student did something wrong, they would sometimes be made to stand outside the classroom for the rest of the period. If your crush happened to walk past at that moment, you were basically humiliated for the rest of your primary/secondary school life.
No recess
Didn’t do your homework? Stay back during recess to finish it and hand it up before the end of the period. Our stomachs suffered but our wallets prospered.
Write “I will not…” 100 times
A very old school punishment method where a student who has committed a mistake would be tasked to stay back after school to write, “I will not…” 100 times on the chalkboard. By the time you were done, your arms would be aching like crazy and your uniform would also be stained with chalk dust like crazy.
Chilies in the mouth
My mum would unleash this punishment on my younger brother and me when we did not finish our food or when we talked back to her. And then we would cry and she would give us some milk to drink, after letting us feel the burn for about 5 minutes. She always used red chilies, the fiery kind, to ensure we learnt our lesson.
Stand on a chair and pull your ears
This was a punishment that was meted out both at school and at home, although it wasn’t as embarrassing at home. It was also one that would leave you feeling rather sore at the end if you had to stand and hold your arms up to pull your ears for awhile. Sometimes you would be told to face the wall and pull your ears. Arms were usually crossed so as to ensure that you would ache even more.
Getting locked in the toilet
I’m not sure if any of you had to go through this but my sibling and I did. Whenever we threw up our dinner, my mum would first cane us, then throw us in the kitchen toilet and turn off the lights. We would be locked in there in the dark until my dad came home about 45 minutes to an hour later. As little kids of not more than 5 years old, this was a particularly traumatizing experience. The pain came more from the caning than anything else. And maybe falling down in the dark toilet.
Didn’t bring your textbook? Go to the other class and borrow
Having to go to another class while their lesson was in full force to borrow a textbook was really painful, especially if you knew that the girl/guy you were crushing on was in that class. Borrowing an OHP though, that was another thing altogether. I know many of us have eagerly offered to do it just so we could waste some time walking to the other classroom and taking our time in pushing the OHP back to your classroom, more so if the girl/guy of your dreams was in the other class.
Cannot watch cartoons in the afternoon
It may seem like a small thing now that we are older but back then, being able to watch cartoons in the afternoons after we returned from school was such a blessing and a highly anticipated activity we looked forward to. However, if we didn’t behave or didn’t do well in our tests, we would be stripped of this privilege and made to spend cartoon time doing our homework and going through assessment books instead.
Here’s a simplified summary of the South Korea martial law that even a 5-year-old would understand:
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