San Francisco Chronicle, 11 March 1960

Teacher swings a mean paddle

PITTSBURGH, March 10 (AP) -- Spare the rod and spoil the child? Not Bohden Pashkowsky, 30-year-old teacher at Langley High School. He paddled 30 boys.

Why?

Said Pashkowsky in his defense today:

"Some of them didn't know Pittsburgh is the steel capital of the world."

Pashkowsky said he spent four or five days on material about the Middle Atlantic States. He explained:

"I told them we would have a quiz on this material on Tuesday. I warned them if they didn't know the answers they would get paddled or detained.

"On Tuesday I quizzed the boys one by one. If they knew the answers they were rewarded with good grades. But if they didn't they knew what to expect.

"I paddled about 30 out of the four classes. I used a wooden paddle. I didn't hurt any of them. Each got one swat.

"It was by their own choice. They could have taken detention. Three boys did.

"I excused from paddling those with extremely low IQs and the physically weak -- the anemic looking ones.

"The girls asked me:

"Are we going to get paddled?"

"Women have equal rights. They drew their own inference from it."

None of the girls was paddled. However, some of them told their parents about the incident, and the parents complained to Principal Harry Brook. Pashkowsky was suspended.

Corporal punishment is permitted in Pittsburgh public schools, but only when the provocation is "very real".

Pashkowsky, a Ukrainian, was a laborer in German concentration camps in World War II. He came to the United States 13 years ago.