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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

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tonidonchak

Who reviews the transcripts, who marks it "done"? There were blank spaces in some places on other pages where slavic words were mentioned so I left them blank.

Camille Westmont

Hi! Myself (Camille Westmont) and Bode Morin, the site administrator, will check the transcriptions at the end of the project.
That is fine to leave blank spaces! That is why we will go back through and double check the text.
Thanks for your help!