On the way home from work a few months ago there was a story on NPR about the order of nuns who ran the Catholic school I went to. The order had been accused of horrible crimes in Ireland along with other orders that run orphanages there. While those crimes and accusations are horrible it reminded me of some of the innovative discipline strategies the nuns used on us.
Without a doubt my favorite one was "filling up the bowl." If you were got out of line, talked back, or did something you were not supposed to, the sisters would hand you a pair of scissors and a salad bowl and instruct you to cut the grass in the schools court yard. You had to fill the bowl before you could come back into class. The courtyard was not shaded and there seemed to be no air. Somehow the sisters had the power to stop the wind from blowing and increase the power of the sun.
Another popular punishment was being sent to a metal shed to crushing aluminum cans that had been donated to the church. The shed was in the middle of a field and the temperature in there must have been in the 100s on most days. In addition to being filled with cans, there were 1,000s of roaches, rats, spiders, and the occasional snakes. Beyond being able to controlling the sun and wind, the sisters seemed to have the power over bugs and other pests as well.
The power of the nun was on display every day. Maybe the most impressive display came the day the kid behind me was acting up during religion. Without stopping the sister who was teaching the class closed her Bible and threw it across the room in my direction. I watched the book fly through the air straight at my head and at the very last minute it veered, arced, and hit the boy sitting behind me in the back of the head. Needless to say he never acted up again.
Without a doubt the sisters were there to do their best to teach us. It couldn't have been easy and I made sure that I did my job of class clown and pain in the ass as best as I could. Most of the times I was punished I deserved it and in fairness to the nuns, there were good days too. When my wife asked me recently if we wanted to consider sending our kids to Catholic school, my answer was "YES!" not because I think the school is better or the curriculum is more challenging but because if I had to suffer through it so will my kids.
Without a doubt my favorite one was "filling up the bowl." If you were got out of line, talked back, or did something you were not supposed to, the sisters would hand you a pair of scissors and a salad bowl and instruct you to cut the grass in the schools court yard. You had to fill the bowl before you could come back into class. The courtyard was not shaded and there seemed to be no air. Somehow the sisters had the power to stop the wind from blowing and increase the power of the sun.
Another popular punishment was being sent to a metal shed to crushing aluminum cans that had been donated to the church. The shed was in the middle of a field and the temperature in there must have been in the 100s on most days. In addition to being filled with cans, there were 1,000s of roaches, rats, spiders, and the occasional snakes. Beyond being able to controlling the sun and wind, the sisters seemed to have the power over bugs and other pests as well.
The power of the nun was on display every day. Maybe the most impressive display came the day the kid behind me was acting up during religion. Without stopping the sister who was teaching the class closed her Bible and threw it across the room in my direction. I watched the book fly through the air straight at my head and at the very last minute it veered, arced, and hit the boy sitting behind me in the back of the head. Needless to say he never acted up again.
Without a doubt the sisters were there to do their best to teach us. It couldn't have been easy and I made sure that I did my job of class clown and pain in the ass as best as I could. Most of the times I was punished I deserved it and in fairness to the nuns, there were good days too. When my wife asked me recently if we wanted to consider sending our kids to Catholic school, my answer was "YES!" not because I think the school is better or the curriculum is more challenging but because if I had to suffer through it so will my kids.
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