I Think The Cane Should Be Bought Back Into The School System
I am a product of my upbringing and education - born in the 1950s, became a teenager in the mid-sixties, and a long-haired rebel at the start of the 1970s.....
When I was very young (5 or 6, maybe) my mother would occasionally slap us - I have 2 older sisters, who are two and three-and-a-half years older than me - but nothing more than that. At primary school persistent offenders would sometimes be punished in assembly - rulered on the hands and occasionally the legs, by the headmistress.
At the age of about 7, I moved to a small prep school just over 3 miles from home. To say the cane was used infrequently would be an understatement - I think I only ever heard the headmaster announce once in assembly that he'd caned some boys the previous day: for throwing stones. He was very solemn and said it was five years (if I remember correctly) since he'd last been obliged to use the cane.....
At Grammar School the cane was administered by the headmaster only - and always in the privacy of his study - although various teachers had a penchant for using a gymshoe in front of the whole class.
I was by no means a goody-goody but, on the other hand, I didn't court danger either - I went through the whole of my school career having suffered only a couple of rulerings on the hands at prep school and a couple of whackings with a gym shoe over PE shorts!
From my own experience I can say that I certainly approve of corporal punishment as a deterrent - overuse, however, I'm sure, lessens its effectiveness though. From a child's perspective, the playground whispers about getting the cane certainly added to the mystique......
When I was very young (5 or 6, maybe) my mother would occasionally slap us - I have 2 older sisters, who are two and three-and-a-half years older than me - but nothing more than that. At primary school persistent offenders would sometimes be punished in assembly - rulered on the hands and occasionally the legs, by the headmistress.
At the age of about 7, I moved to a small prep school just over 3 miles from home. To say the cane was used infrequently would be an understatement - I think I only ever heard the headmaster announce once in assembly that he'd caned some boys the previous day: for throwing stones. He was very solemn and said it was five years (if I remember correctly) since he'd last been obliged to use the cane.....
At Grammar School the cane was administered by the headmaster only - and always in the privacy of his study - although various teachers had a penchant for using a gymshoe in front of the whole class.
I was by no means a goody-goody but, on the other hand, I didn't court danger either - I went through the whole of my school career having suffered only a couple of rulerings on the hands at prep school and a couple of whackings with a gym shoe over PE shorts!
From my own experience I can say that I certainly approve of corporal punishment as a deterrent - overuse, however, I'm sure, lessens its effectiveness though. From a child's perspective, the playground whispers about getting the cane certainly added to the mystique......
