I Used to Get the Cane At School

@Rebecca54 I vividly remember the first time I was told “touch your toes”. I didn’t find it easy!

@MartinII No - I always put my hands on my knees when told to bend over for the slipper unless told otherwise as it was easier and I was less likely to topple.

@JoBlak Too true! I remember adopting that position so well - followed by one whack on each cheek and the last one down the middle. Strange how many teachers slippered in that way

@JoBlak Every whack in the same spot must have stung more - and the slow whacking probably prolonged the agony. Our whackings were over and done with very quickly.

@JoBlak @Rebecca54 Some teachers allowed or told us to put hands on knees but a few insisted we touch toes.

Our gym mistress was the worst, she made all those to be slippered bend over touching toes together and stay in position until all had been slippered. It was almost always six whacks administered in batches of two - she made three passes along the line giving each of us two whacks each time. Anyone who failed to stay in position got extra. She also slippered us on the bare sometimes.

@Sharon Our PE master was mild by comparison. Those to be dealt with had to line up, touch their toes for their own whacks, then go back to their place to watch the others get theirs. Each time I got it I was first, for some reason.

@MartinII Martin I would always have preferred to go first to get it over with!!

@Sharon I was never in a line like that - it must have prolonged the agony getting your whacks in batches of two. We usually got three whacks - one on each cheek and the final one down the middle. I don't think anyone got it on the bare.

@Rebecca54 Yes, I agree. My first time was a bit scary, though, because I had no idea how bad it was going to be.

@MartinII The boys' gym master was easy going compared to our gym mistress. He didn't administer many slipperings and those he did were only a couple of whacks. The boys got more slipperings off our gym mistress than they got off him.

@Rebecca54 I expect prolonging the agony was the reason she did it like that. Most teachers gave two or three whacks, any more was exceptional. It was the other way around in gym, any fewer than six was exceptional.

@JoBlak Slipper or cane? Six with the slipper was usual from our gym mistress.

@JoBlak That's how our gym mistress did it too on the rare occasions she was only slippering one of us. Usually she went along a line of us giving one on each cheek each time she passed then two across the middle on the final pass.

@Sharon How many did you get bending over in a line? We tended to get the slipper straight after an "offence" in class so we tended to be the only one getting whacked at that moment. The cane was always given in private by the head in her study after lessons ended at 4.00 p.m. - so you had a wait if you knew you were going to get it in the morning

We usually got at least six off the gym mistress. We got the slipper immediately in class too but there was often more than one at a time - a couple talking for example or those who hadn't dome homework. The cane was given the the heads' or year heads' studies but quite soon after the offence - at break times or sometimes after school.

@JoBlak She went down the line three or more times, not just twice.