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I Received Corporal Punishment At School

At English schools in the 1950 and 60s, the standard punishment for serious or repeated offences was the cane. At my school canings were always given in private, so none of us knew exactly how many strokes other boys got, but we always assumed it was six. Why did six become the standard dose, I wonder? Or perhaps it wasn't so standard, and "six of the best" is a sort of urban myth? Did anyone ever get more than six?
miscreant6x6 · 56-60, M
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.
miscreant6x6 · 56-60, M
@MartinII The house master was a noted sadist indeed. It was considered drawing the 'short straw' if you were one of the boys allotted to him during your tenure. He would cane boys for breaking any of the countless petty rules. If you've seen IF, it was that type of school.
MartinII · 70-79, M
@miscreant6x6 Well, it sounds rather worse than that. And of course the caners in IF were prefects, not masters.
miscreant6x6 · 56-60, M
@MartinII Yes of course they were prefects in IF. The cruel wait outside the gym intensified matters and then there was the walk-up method for effect.
Sharon · F
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.
Sharon · F
@ReggieFane Canings at home were about the same as at school - knickers don't provide any protection. The most I remember getting at home in one go was two dozen. I didn't think I'd ever be able to sit down again.
ReggieFane · 61-69, M
@Sharon 24, OMG. Must have been VERY naughty. Did mum or dad cane harder ?
Sharon · F
@ReggieFane There was little in it. After a couple of strokes my bottom was on fire so it was difficult to precisely decern the difference between mum's canings and dad's.
SoloSenior · 80-89, M
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
ArishMell · 70-79, M
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, [i]Whacko!, [/i]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.
ReggieFane · 61-69, M
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!
MartinII · 70-79, M
@ReggieFane Very happy to talk, but as it happens I managed to avoid the dreaded cane.
miscreant6x6 · 56-60, M
@ReggieFane OMG yes the ones who grouped their strokes together to leave a flaming band were the worst. I had one master who could lay 4 on the same spot and it was excruciating for at least two days and remained visible in the showers for much longer.
Jonathanzee · 51-55, M
6 of the best strokes were the maximum.The principal took his time and made sure each stroke was felt.
miscreant6x6 · 56-60, M
@Jonathanzee Most principals took their time - in delaying the inevitable, to ensure nerves were taut and apprehension through the room, and then when administering the strokes. Never in a rush and delaying each stroke to the point where you felt comfortable until...
SW-User
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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