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School corporal punishment [I Received Corporal Punishment At School]

Corporal punishment was in frequent use at my all boys grammar school.

Most of the teachers kept canes in their classrooms though some used them much more often than others. In class the cane was given on the hands. If you were sent to the headmaster, as happened to me twice, he would cane you on the bottom and his cane was longer and thicker than the ones used by the other teachers.

The slipper (plimsoll) was also used, though only by the PE and Games masters.

The teacher who used the cane most often was Mr Chapman who took me for Latin in the second and third years. He would set weekly tests which were marked out of ten. Any boy who scored less than 7 would get the cane. A mark of 6 would mean one stroke, 5 two strokes and so on. I don’t think that anyone ever actually got nought, but the maximum would have been 6 strokes. It certainly incentivised us to prepare for the tests!

I was quite good at Latin, though I have forgotten it all now, but still got the cane from him twice after a test, once scoring six and the other time five. The procedure was that in the next lesson after we had done the test the papers would be handed back and we would see our scores. And then you would know if you were for it or not. He had kept a note of everyone who hadn’t got 7 and would call the boys out to the front. Most weeks there would be at least one boy called out and I think the most was six or seven boys. He really whacked the cane down hard too.
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Lacylin · 51-55, F
The cane was used at my school in the early 80s. Corporal punishment was always carried out in the headmasters study. I was caned once in 5th year along with a boy from my class. It was a perfectly acceptable form of punishment back in those days.Looking back Im not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
ArtieKat · M
@Lacylin [quote]Looking back Im not sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.[/quote]
I understand your reservations but I'm fairly sure that for the majority of pupils just [i][b]the threat[/b][/i] of the cane was a very effective deterrent.
Lacylin · 51-55, F
The trouble is it wouldn't just be a threat. It would end up being misused and abused as was the case in the past.
The sadistic element amoung the teaching trade would inevitably emerge from the woodwork.
ArtieKat · M
@Lacylin As with everything in life, it is possible to put safeguards in place.