did you receive corporal punishment at school

@angela2106 they sure weren't my happiest

@angela2106 It depends on how a school is run. A school with good discipline administered fairly could be a very happy school. Corporal punishment could be justified if rules were repeatedly broken, and one had to think, would your parents support you, or the school. In the old days it was often the latter.

@angela2106 Did you receive many canings?

@Rebecca54 I got the cane 6 times - one was just a token, but the others were excruciating. Hated them at the time, but now, all these years later when the pain and shock are merely mental constructs (ie you can't re-experience the actual pain or embarrassment) I am quite proud of my juvenile delinquencies!!!!!

@angela2106 What were your juvenile delinquencies then?

@angela2106 It is strange how I rather like exchanging experiences of my punishments well over 40 years later - probably too much time on my hands now that I no longer work full time!

I was caned 3 times - I token 2 stokes on my palms at 11/12, 3 on the bottom at 14 and 6 on the bottom at 17. The last one was worse!

@Rebecca54 my most painful memory of school was being kicked by a girl

@Chroniclewriter I agree. I was spanked at school but not caned. With one exception I was aware of, the cane was used fairly and consistently, and the majority of boys never got it. I think it was generally a happy school - I was happy there most of the time. Whether I would feel the same had I myself been caned, I don’t know!

@Rebecca54 Your first encounter with the cane was a kind of baptism, an introduction to the club. Mind you well placed strokes on the palm with a thin cane could be very painful as I found out on several occasions. Six of the best was the time-honoured ration for a serious offence in many schools. Very painful over just knickers, PE shorts or pants. But often over skirts or trousers but force adjusted to penetrate the layers. Was yours a day state or independent grammar school.

I can only imagine where she kicked you. @TheWildEcho

@angela2106 yes she was such a sweet girl, but she knew where to aim for!

@Chroniclewriter My school was a girls day grammar. I got 3 strokes over knickers (skirt folded back) at 14 and 6 over trousers at 17 (we had just been allowed to wear trousers in the 6th form). The 6 were harder strokes possibly due to age and/or the extra layer of clothes

@Rebecca54 The six must have really throbbed and stung for sometime; even trousers would not give much more protection than just knickers. Did many other girls in the 6th form get caned?

@Chroniclewriter A few did - but instances were fewer than when we were in the lower years

@Rebecca54 Was it the case that if a 6th form pupil was to be caned they got the maximum 6 strokes as an example to other pupils that you, or they should have known better? Was it usually for such things as smoking. Also I would hope punishments were fairly given and with no hint of sadism or personal revenge.

@Chroniclewriter @Rebecca54 Had you gone through school without receiving the cane would you have felt your formative years were not complete?

@Chroniclewriter There was a certain status amongst ones peer group as "a girl that had been caned" I am not sure if I would have regretted not being caned if I had avoided it - certainly not after the last 6 stroke caning!

@Chroniclewriter That is one of those hypothetical question which it is honestly impossible to answer. While I know there is the occasional writer who views their caning as part and parcel of their school life in those days, but the great majority of us feared the cane greatly, and would have wished for nothing more than to escape those 5-7 years of secondary education without being told to bend over once.

The moment you escape that school environment, your views begin to change. Although you had no choice in the matter, you do begin to take a pride in having had the experience of being formally caned, and of the unexpected fortitude you probably showed during the beating. You begin to realise that it probably did play a small part in making your formative years more productive, more self-disciplined, more complete.

So in retrospect, when the pain is an abstract memory, you do begin to be grateful that an inescapable disciplinary caning was part of your school life.

But it is only in hindsight! At the time? Never!

@angela2106 So is one to assume you were caned or slippered?

@Rebecca54 You seem to be happy or brave about discussing the possibly more painful aspect of your schooldays. I too felt it was a 'rite of passage' to receive the cane at least once. I did get four strokes on one occasion but never six. Did you feel you warranted the six for what you did? Did it reduce you to tears or were you brave.

@Chroniclewriter see my earlier reply

@Chroniclewriter Looking back I was stupid to leave the school premises during a free study period. I was seen by a member of staff and reported to the head. I knew I was in trouble when I was summoned towards the end of the following day but was surprised when she said that she was going to cane me as I was so close to the end of my school career. I think she only told me I was going to get 6 as I was bending over the chair and they were far harder strokes than my previous 3 strokes. I probably felt the punishment was excessive at the time - I didn't cry but could go straight home to compose myself

@Rebecca54 The trouble is some heads expected to know where pupils were at all time. Truancy was a frequent crime and challenge when we were all at school; I went off one afternoon at primary school and got a very hard whack from the headmistress (nun)across the palm of the hand. I suppose six bending over a chair can be painful depending on how hard the strokes were applied and what your covering was. It's hard to say if three strokes was enough; it all would depend on the Heads mood at the time. Was the Head nice to you in your remaining time at school. If you were still 17 were you a young member of the upper V1th about to take A.levels. You say you went straight home to compose yourself; did you manage to hide the circumstances from your parents or were you open about it?