I Got The Cane Or Slipper In The Sixth Form

I was caned twice during my sixth form years in the early 1960s, once for skipping school and smoking and once for an offence which embarrassed the Headmistress – an agonising six of the best on both occasions. At my school the girl’s age seemed irrelevant when she was to be disciplined. It was entirely the nature and seriousness of your offence that determined your punishment. It mattered not whether you were a trembling 11 year old or a hardened sixth former - a caning offence was a caning offence. The only thing that changed was that the canings became more severe as you got older. The other change of course was that as you matured and became more worldly-wise, you were much more careful to stick to the rules (a plus in favour of corporal punishment) but equally rather more careful to avoid being caught when you did misbehave. So from memory, there was a significant decline in the frequency of canings as we progressed, and by sixth form, it was becoming much more of an ‘event’ when one of us was caned.

Few, if any, of the girls would have avoided the cane in their seven years at the school, but I think only a minority of us sixth-formers got the cane.

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marktayloruk · 61-69, M

Either some people have vivid imaginations - as do I - or some teachers and parents were sadistic perverts. I suspect both to be the case!

Sharon · F

@marktayloruk Teachers in mixed schools who only used CP with girls (or only with boys) were definitely perverts. Obviously they had some other method of disciplining boys (or girls) that they could also have used with girls but chose to beat them instead, presumably for their own (sexual) gratification.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@marktayloruk Many of the stories show even the more CP-happy teachers were far less cruel than the parents. I suspect there not sexual motives but resenting the very existence of children they found very difficult to avoid breeding.

ArthurP · 80-89, M

@marktayloruk From my school experience in the dark ages (1947 to 1960) when people comment today on how brutal parents and teachers were, I always recall the first line of L P Hartley's book "The go-between" "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.". It is so true of school and home discipline a couple of generations ago. What we now consider sadistic was viewed as the norm. The degree of discipline and obedience required in schools and homes would be inconceivable to the present generation. And in turn the life experiences of those teachers and parents are inconceivable to the cushy present. All my schoolmasters had served in the military during one of the wars. My French master had had a portion of his skull blown away on the Somme, replaced with an obvious metal plate. My Geography master had been a Lancaster rear gunner - tail end Charlie - and survived 30 missions. "Major" MacDougal, our woodwork teacher, had been in a German prisoner or war camp for five years!. I mention those three as they happened to be superb teachers. And they knew it. So if you disobeyed or disrespected them, a dose of the slipper or being sent to the Headmaster for a caning was small beer to them - a good bit of toughening-up for the next war, which thankfully never came.

They were tough; they lacked empathy; but neither sadist or perverts. They used corporal punishment as an effective tool to maintain a level of discipline which in the present day is no longer seen as appropriate. But it was neither sadistic or perverted to them or their charges. Schoolboys have an amazing ability to recognise even the most minor deviation in their masters. I never once recall any of us deeming even the strictest of our masters as either sadistic or perverted.

Indeed, the past is a foreign country.

marktayloruk · 61-69, M

@ArthurP Mine were in the less dark days 1964-77. Was never caned or slippered due to luck -was bullied mercilessly, though. Primary school headmistress said because I didn't face up to things =then smacked my legs for fighting back!

Caroline259 · 56-60, F

@marktayloruk

or some teachers and parents were sadistic perverts.

Some still are but at least they can't get away with beating children like they used to.

StrictOldManUK · 70-79, M

@marktayloruk Nothing wrong with a vivid imagination.