# 171 - SJ or SMJ as some of us called her

This must be principal week on my blog because today's post is on my elementary school principal.  She was a nun and her name was Sister Jean.  Occasionally someone may have called her Sister Mean Jean, but definitely not to her face.  Sister Jean was a principal back in the day where it was a good thing for students to be a little bit afraid of people in charge.  She had a paddle that she kept hanging on the wall of her office...need I say more.  If anyone wants to know more about the paddle, I cannot help you.  Jeff cannot help you.  I don't even think my brother can help you, but you might want to check with
# 142 for more on the paddle.

Sister Jean wore a nun's habit every day.  I have no idea if she had hair or just bangs, but I suspect her hair was short.  I was scared of her and tried to stay out of her way as much as possible.  I remember her bringing all the girls in the entire school out into the backyard and lining us up.  Then she would make us kneel on the ground.  If our skirt was not touching the ground (i.e. long enough), she would tell us to put out our hands, palm up, and she would walk down the line and give us a whack with a ruler.  Thank you mom for always keeping me in proper dress code!  No whacks for me!  It totally got the point across however.  Today, she would probably be dragged into the police car by her habit and arrested for cruelty.

Because I tried to stay off of her radar, I really don't have too much to say about Sister Jean.  It just makes me wonder if the world is really better off in 2010 with rules that often seem to perpetuate problems instead of teaching kids the correct way to behave.  I don't think kids need to be beaten, but I know a few that could use a few ruler whacks!