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I remember “the Penguin” from the Blues Brothers. She totally epitomized the nuns I had in the 1950s. There was one nun I had in 5th grade who looked just like the “Penguin”. She was a Benedictine nun and she used the yardstick mostly on the boys. There was one boy in our class who wouldn’t do something he was supposed to do, so she told him to go to the principal’s office. He just sad there and wouldn’t move, so she kept smacking him on the thigh with the yardstick. He wouldn’t budge. Finally, she took his books and piled them on his desk and told him to leave the classroom. He swatted the books down all over the floor. She was furious! I don’t remember what happened after that, only I don’t remember seeing him in our class any more after that.

Like both of you, I too was educated by the nuns back in the 50's. As RC2 notes, "they were tough". My schools were in Queens, NY during the swelling "baby boom" years. Our classes were large. IIRC, there were five 8th grade classes at graduation and each class had 50+ students. As adults, we can now look back with 'adult eyes' and only imagine the situation these nuns had to cope with each and every day. They were given a curriculum to be completed within the span of 9 months. Among their students, there was usually the class clown, the angry and insolent student and others on the fringe who used the classroom setting to draw attention to themselves. The good sisters were there to educate the children, while also forming them in the faith.

It wasn't until my own daughter brought home a Social Studies paper "worthy of review" that I truly grasped the gift I had received by those sisters of yesteryear. While my daughter received a fabulous grade on her report, I was startled to see the teacher had not corrected her poor grammar. I still have some of my workbooks from catholic elementary school. Not only did Sister correct the content material for accuracy in History (or Social Studies), she also corrected and graded me on grammar! And, she did this for each of the 50+ students on ALL topics, not just History ... each and every night.

If anything, we were spoiled into learning by a team of well oiled educators who sacrificed what little personal time they had to ensure we learned AND mastered the material provided. How blessed are we! We learned mental math, the times tables, algebra, calculus ... all without the benefit of an electronic calculator, much less a computer. Today's youth immediately flounder when confronted with a malfunctioning computer or the absence of a color coded chart of vegetables. Yet we, as American citizens, pay far more in taxes today to educate our youth, than anyone else in the history of this nation.

I have added all those nuns to my daily prayers. May God richly reward and bless them for enduring the battle to serve Him ... with or without a ruler.