page_0035
Facsimile
Transcription
A. Varesano interviewing Bertha Falatko -14- 8/17/72
Tape 26-2
BF: Um-hmm.
AV: What about discipline? What was the general trend in the discipline over there?
BF: They weren’t very/bold really they weren’t. And if they didn’t listen, they’d
paddle maybe on the hand, slap the hand with a paddle. If the female teacher
thought she couldn’t handle the boys, she would go to the principal…
AV: Who was a man?
BF: Yeah… and he would give them a talking-to and he would give them/a couple of whacks with a paddle, on the rear! And if, they had to stay in after school.
AV: Was there any use of putting kids in a corner?
BF: Yes, they’d do that. Sometimes if they would be caught talking, or copying
an examination, they’d put them up.
AV: In the corner?
BF: In the corner.
AV: Did they use any kind of thing to, like, make fun of naughty pupils? Dunce
Cap or something like that?
BF: No they didn’t, not that I remember. Really I don’t. Not in our rooms, anyway.
AV: Was there any teacher that was particularly strict in discipline?
BF: Well, I think Mr. O'Donnell was. I don’t think he was mean, I couldn’t say
he was mean, but I think he taught them discipline very very well.
AV: How did he do that?
BF: Well, he would give them a good talking-to first. And if he still thought
that they needed a whack, he would give them a whack, too.
AV: I heard that he had a special kind of paddle that was particularly viscious.
BF: I don’t know, I never seen it!
AV: It was supposed to have holes in it…
BF: I never seen it! Ha, ha!
AV: And how long was your school season? From September?
BF: Most likely from September, like it is now.
AV: The middle of September, or the beginning?
BF: I think the beginning of September.
AV: Until, when, Christmas time? Was that the first semester, that went until
Christmas?
BF: Then we had a week off, and then we went back I guess until about June.
Some of them, well, not in our school. I think we went to the beginning of
June.
AV: And how many weeks did you have off at Christmas? Two weeks?
BF: I think it was two, because we had Christmas and New Year’s together.
AV: And then exams were at the end of May?
BF: Yeah, well some would begin like the middle of May.
AV: And then in the summer, was there any kind of summer session?
BF: We never had any, no.
AV: Was there any other kind of classes held in school that wasn't connected
with grades, like sewing classes or something like that? Citizen classes?
BF: Not that I know of. I think when they had sewing classes, I think they had
then down in/the Dutch church. I don't remember then having them at school, I don't think they had anything else, not that I remember.
AV: Now, what did the playground look like? Were there swings on it?
BF: No, we didn't have anything at all. WE just made up our own games.
AV: So, the playground was used, like to play games on.
BF: That's right.
AV: Were the girls separate from the boys, when they played or all mixed in?
BF: Oh most of the time they mixed in, but most of the time the boys played
just with the boys. The boys would play mostly Nipsy or marbles. Every once
in a while they would start like a, they'd have a little baseball game, but
Notes and Questions
Please sign in to write a note for this page