I Got The Cane In School 6 Of The Best

I'm in an identical age group, and can vouch for the ubiquitousness of the cane in many secondary schools. It was possible to avoid it by being wholly well behaved and 'invisible', and having a bit of luck. Even in my school, which was very strict, I have a friend who never got the cane. Luck was her principle ally, by the way.

But for the average girl, like you and I, a few punishments with the school cane was inevitable. You are also right that this plain statement of our reality tends to shock, horrify and indeed cause disbelief in contemporary ears. The cultural change over 50 years is stunning.

I really only wanted to comment on your astute observation that your canings, although extremely painful, were not brutal. I wholly agree! It is hard to explain in the contemporary world how having a three foot length of rattan cane applied at considerable force six or so times to your near unprotected buttocks did not leave us feeling brutalised. I put it down to the fact that in those days, we had a much clearer understanding that forbidden actions had clear consequences, and few consequences are more tangible than having to bend over for a caning or other types of corporal punishment. To an outsider, this, in itself, may appear brutal, but it seems to me that most of us who were at the receiving end understood it as a legitimate and well-accepted form of punishment and correction which we had brought upon ourselves.

Your headmistress was most enlightened, and i think unusual, in having a heart to heart talk with you later, but my experience - and many others - was a headmistress who caned "more in sorrow than in anger" and attempted afterwards to make sure we had learnt our lesson, and (in my memory) genuinely hoped we would never need to go through the experience again.

(In my case, this fine woman and myself became firm "pen-friends" as my life took me overseas, and we corresponded at least monthly literally to the week of her death aged a marvellous 95. )