I Received Corporal Punishment At School

Our caining was always on the hands, 2, 4 or max 6 depending on the reason for the punishment. I received 4 strokes (average number) quite a few times, mainly for incomplete homework, being late for school or fighting. Only once I got the 6, for breaking a meter stick at lunchtime. The VP had us for class after lunch, he noticed the broken rurler and asked who did it. After receiving dirty looks from others who knew I'd broken it, I put up my hand and admitted it was me. He seemed disappointed, as he hoped it was one of the class idiots, but none the less he sent one of the other students to the office to fetch the cane.
I was sweating with fear, I had seen him cane others in the past and he gave extremely hard strokes. All too soon the pupil arrived carrying the cane almost in procession. It was long, thick and whippy.
I stood up in the middle of the class and held out my left hand, palm upwards. There was absolute silence as he raised the cane above his shoulder to deliver the first stroke. I heard the whiz of it going through the air before it connected with my hand. I knew it was going to be painful, but nothing prepared me for the thick burning pain that stroke delivered. My instant reaction was to pull my hand back, but I knew it would result in that stroke being declared null and void, so somehow I kept my hand outstretched so another stroke landed parallel to the first one, this was quickly followed by the third. My left hand was on fire, but I thrust out my right hand to receive strokes 4, 5 and 6. It was desperate, the pain, the burning, the shock, I was shaking inside, but trying to put on a brave face and act tough.
By the time I got to sit down, I just wanted to look at the damage. The 6 strokes were laid evenly accross both palms, in parallel lines. Dark red/purple wealts, with a white centre line was beginning to form. The pain was unbelievable, it was as if I was hit by a hot rod, getting hotter and more painful by the second.
About 10 minutes after I received the cane the pain was at its worst, I could have chopped my hands off it was that uncomfortable. It was a mixture of heat, swelling, burning pain. I couldn't close over my hands, or bend my fingers. All I could do was place my wrists between my knees squeezing them intensely. It didn't really help, but acted as a distraction.
When class eventually ended, everyone came up to see the marks and to offer sympathy. How did you take that they asked, he hit you so hard and fast? It must be so sore they commented.
That was my last caining, I was 16. It took 4 days for the marks to fade, and even longer for the lingering pain to disappear completely. Every time I clasped my hands or lifted something, I could feel the remaints of the wealts.
Some days later, one of the girls got 4 of the strap for banging a door. The teacher accused her of being cheeky. She had a dental appointment, and asked to get out of class to attend it. She asked a few times for permission to leave, but he ignored her. Eventually he allowed her to go. On the way out she banged the door. He sent another girl after her and called her back. She reluctantly came back, to find him standing, strap at the ready. She protested momentarily before holding out her right hand. He gave her two hard strokes, the crack of which resounded around the room.
I could see her hand jerk with the force, she swapped hands received 2 more on the left hand. Apart from shaking her hands immediately afterwards, she took the punishment extremely well. I could see the pain in her face, and as she was extremely pretty she got a lot of sympathic looks. She sat down for a few moments to compose herself, placing her open palms on the sides of her knees, and up her thighs. This was to cool the burning pain in her hands. Her legs would be colder as her skirt was quite short leaving her bare skin exposed. She checked her hands a few times before standing up and leaving for her appointment.
On her return an hour or so later, she showed us the dark red marks, these were wide, covering most of her palms and parts of her fingers. She admitted it was extremely embarrassing getting punished in front of the whole class, adding greatly to the pain of the strapping. This was the second time in the past few weeks she got hit with the strap. The first time was for smoking.
The next day I asked her to be my girlfriend, I so impressed with her handling the punishment. Many times afterwards we recalled the event, comparing stories. The cane is definitely more painful than the strap, so say those who got both, but I never got strapped, and she never got the cane. Some say 4 of the strap is similar to 2 of the cane, which I kept teasing her about. We lasted together about 1 year, before parting. It was definitely the combination of our punishments that brought us together!

Six seemed to be the maximum at school and we often got fewer. In general it was the most with the slipper too, only the PE mistress every gave more to my knowledge.

At home, six was more like a minimum with the cane, twelve being more usual. Slipperings tended to be a minimum or six too, with one or two dozen being usual.

I got more than six in the privacy of my house master's private study.

It was a boarding school with its own rules & regulations and whatever he said happened.

He caned me on my 2nd day there for 'running in the corridor' (my first caning was 3 strokes and I thought he's cut me in half !).

I never received so few as 3 ever again and he caned me very regularly over the next 4 and a half years. Mostly the time-honoured six, but occasional 8s, 9s and the odd dozen.

Then there were the sentences with 'extras' for moving or noise that earned more than the allotted six. It was always intense.

I was at a boarding school here in Australia, and I had my well deserved share of the cane.

I never had a full 'six of the best', 4 was my maximum and that was enough for me. The pain was intense and I was purple with the bruises for about a week afterwards.

The Prefects had the authority to refer a boy to the House Master, and he administered the punishment in his office. The Head Master, "The Boss", never involved himself but if you were in his office you were in very serious trouble possible all the way up to expulsion.

SS

My view is that 6, applied full force, was a perfect number for the average teenage bottom, whether male or female. Most teachers liked to space out the strokes, though some liked the 5 bar gate or even grouped the 6 in a narrow band (super cruel!). An era of proper discipline, and I'd love to talk about it privately if you got plenty of swishings!

It is strange, that "magic" six. I've never got to the bottom of it, but it goes back a long way, since I recall references to it in one of those 1940s-50s boys' story books set in minor public schools of the most highly regarded mediocrity in syllabus and teaching.

"References"... actually lingering descriptions of trousers being "dusted" by the house-master, and screams spelled "Yarooo!" and suchlike; the six strokes being not maximum but standard. Though in one chapter the three boys in trouble had an "impot" I think it was called - "imposition", or lines. Apparently, copying 100 lines from some Classical Latin ode or other of victoriously bellicose doings.

Funny - or worrying. Ask me what I had for dinner yesterday and I'd have to think for a minute or so. Give me a recollection of past physical punishments and I remember school-boy books from half a century ago.

Some cite Jimmy Edwards in the radio and TV comedies, Whacko!, but he certainly did not invent that six strokes even if the phrase "Six of the Best" were from him, or his writers. It pre-dates those shows.

6 of the best strokes were the maximum.The principal took his time and made sure each stroke was felt.

Did anyone have to take off their shirts for the caning?

Six was the standard for a caning at my school but I did get eight strokes once. Six for playing truant and two extra for failing to say thank you to the headmistress afterwards.

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