School Abuse and Hell – Little Edouard Tales 

The Strap

Unfortunately, Kids who did not meet teacher expectations were labelled ‘misbehaved’ and inflicted painful and humiliating punishment.

Edouard was routinely sent to the principal’s office and forced to line up, extend his hand, and receive three to five leather belt lashings without explanation. –More shame! 

While he struggled to focus on boring math, he was keenly aware of his surroundings beyond the chalkboard.

He saw things the teacher should have noticed.

Left-handed students (like him) sat at tiny desks designed for right-handed learners. Kids struggled at the back because they needed glasses or couldn’t hear the teacher’s mumblings. Little Tim needed a pencil sharpener where none could be found. Tommy poked Ann and whispered nasty to her backside. The gross skin tag on the teacher’s neck or the booger hanging from little Sally’s nose in the third row. 

The list was endless.

Edouard found classroom dynamics humorous and more interesting than chalkboard scribblings. Am I the only one seeing this? He quipped to himself.

In grade seven, the math teacher summoned Edouard to the front of the class because he wasn’t grasping arithmetic as fast as the others. He forced him to bend over and touch his toes only to whack a wooden yardstick across Edouard’s ass three times.

Pay attention, he’d yell while the kids laughed.  

In grade nine, the English teacher announced test results, ranging from the highest to the lowest grades. Edouard, usually last, would shamefully collect his failed paper, followed by a round of under-the-breath mocking. 

Thinking he was a comedian, one French teacher made Edouard the brunt of bad jokes by sitting him up front in what was called ‘the dunce seat.’ He set shy Edouard up, pelting tricky translations at him, knowing he’d struggle to answer and get a laugh.

Talk about a confidence-killing approach to learning a second language. Edouard never got over the trauma and struggled his entire life to learn languages. The mental block was sub-conscious.

Edouard wore thick black-rimmed glasses his mother inadvertently chose for him. Coupled with his buck teeth and braces, he attracted mocking from even the kindest souls. Even the bus driver and school janitor poked fun at him.

Edouard wore undersized hand-me-down pants that clamped his more prominent than usual testicles. He was built like an elephant for his age, and it showed.

Failing to conceal his raging pubescent day-long ‘boners’ brought on by his evolving sexual orientation and a room full of attractive guys was no picnic.

This triggered anxiety whenever the teacher asked him to walk up to the chalkboard and solve a problem. Often, he’d refuse to stand, saying he did not know the answer even if he did. This made him look even more developmentally delayed and got him reprimanded in front of the class.

He had terrible allergies, which caused severe itchy eyes and snot to run down his face.

Horking to the back of his throat, constantly sniffling in a dead silent room, and endlessly rubbing his eyes during exams. His ailment triggered the panic-sweats and more anxiety.

How could anyone concentrate under these conditions? Rushing through and knowing he’d flunk by bolting early was less painful than drawing attention and grossing others out. –He stopped caring about his marks.

Edouard was a victim of emotional abuse by the very people entrusted with his care! 

As he matured, he learned to assess patterns in his surroundings early and deduce a likely outcome to avoid trouble. As a chameleon, he became skilled at dodging bullies and preempting mockery.

None of the shit inflicted on Edouard would fly in today’s schools. However, these were the late  60s and early 70s.

If Edouard’s parents knew what was happening at school, they’d get more involved.

Like most parents of their generation, they rarely questioned authority. His dad, the youngest of 13 siblings, grew up on a working farm in rural Quebec, and his mom went to a boarding school during the Depression, raised by abusive Catholic nuns.

In his parents’ defence, they knew nothing of a nurturing classroom and believed the “school of hard knocks” was what the medicine kids needed to survive in the world. They likely experienced corporal punishment themselves. His home life, in contrast, was abundant, loving and a safe space.