It was nineteen fifty-five. My dad was twelve years old in the sixth grade. Rock-n-roll was just getting started with a new face: ELVIS. He just had his first number one hit "Mystery Train" and the older teenagers seem to be out of control. In the beginning of nineteen fifty-seven Presley became the target of criticism by teachers, clergymen, and other entertainers. The schools needed to find a way to control the students. Dad said, "Corporal punishment was an accepted fact back in his primary school days." Today's punishment in schools has changed in many ways. Lets compare some of the old rules with some of the new rules of today like misbehavior, classroom rules, and dress code.
             First, misbehavior was not accepted at home or in schools back in the fifties. "My mother kept a leather strap in the kitchen drawer, and both my sisters and I were strapped for any serious misbehavior. Until eventually, I cunningly hid the hated strap from her by pushing it down the back of the drawer, so that if by chance she did find it, I could pretend that it must have slipped down there by accident." The teachers all had similar leather straps, and for any misbehavior that was judged to be serious enough, by a boy or a girl, were punished by the culprit being hit on the open palm of the hand with the strap. For example, "We had to hold out our hand steady, at arm's length, and receive our just reward for the misdeed. And, if we dared to lessen the impact of the blow by dropping our hand just as the strap struck it, we were punished for that with some extra strokes!" As I look back at my school days we were sent to what is called in school suspension for any misbehavior, which usually lasted three days. For instance, we were placed in a room all day not being able to talk to any one and only one bathroom break. During lunch time we had to eat our lunch at are desk. We were not allowed to leave the ...