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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Petra1960 · 61-69, F

I was caned twice at school and the last time I was 14. After my second I was so afraid of the cane that I was a very well behaved girl for the rest of my schooldays.

MaryWat · 70-79, F

@Petra1960: Thanks for your comment: the result you describe is precise the outcome that caning is supposed to have - it is so bad, you move mountains to avoid getting caned again. Unfortunately -at least in my case - I was so intent on being 'one of the gang' that sometimes i did incredibly stupid things without thinking through the consequences if caught. Sometimes when I look back, I cannot believe that idiot girl mutated into cautious, law-abiding me.

Petra1960 · 61-69, F

@MaryWat: The first time we were out of boundry and skipping school. The second time we were caught smoking. We were 4 girls that tried our first cigarett. First and last for me.

MaryWat · 70-79, F

Was it the caning that put you off cigarettes or the disgusting effect the first cigarette had! My experience puts me firmly amongst the stupidest girls that have ever lived. I have smoked no more than ten cigarettes in my life - all in the rebellious mid teens. Each cigarette made me nauseous and made my vision go all green. And unbelievably I was caught on two of those occasions - and caned both times - first at home. At that point, any intelligent girl, given both her horrible reaction to cigarettes and the agony of a caned bottom, would never touch another one ever again. Yet I did, at school, where the risk was much higher, and the outcome of discovery much more painful. But at least, that school caning ensured that I never smoked again.

Petra1960 · 61-69, F

@MaryWat: Same for me. I never smoked again.

Alfred22 ·

@MaryWat There was a skill involved in managing smoking. Fortunately, I was not a natural smoker so I never really got the hang of it; as Mary Wat notes, the whole process was rather aesthetically unappealing. So, I never smoked cigarettes. Cigars I never even tried. I liked the image of a pipe but again the mechanics of the process eluded me. I had many friends who became addicts. My two best addicted friends died young-- in their fifties. Very sad since both were needed as dads.

kres1 · 41-45, M

@Petra1960 @Petra1960 are still well behaved Petra

MaryWat · 70-79, F

@kres1 The cross in the avatar box indicates Petra is no longer a member.

MAJFF · M

@MaryWat My first experience of the cane was three strokes for being caught smoking with friends. I have never smoked. The horrible taste of the cigarette was enough, the three strokes across my backside reinforced it.