School Discipline

All schools have a school secretary, usually female, and sometimes rather attractive. At my school which happened to be a large comprehensive in London , the secretaries office was adjacent to the headmasters. Now I attended the school in the late sixties, when caning and slippering was the norm. For a senior boy as myself this was rather embarrassing if sent to the headmaster for discipline. Firstly having to report to a young lady only a few years older than me, who would then press an intercom to inform the headmaster of my presence. When inside she could quite clearly hear the swish thwack of a cane arriving at speed across a trousered bottom, and of course the accompanying yelp.On leaving his office red faced and desperately trying to avoid any eye contact, I would hurry past her, as ...

Has anyone any experience of this once popular but underestimated punishment ? From my experience the sting to the legs is “sharper” but more short lived. The optimum places to smack being the backs of the legs just above the knee and just below the bottom – would anyone agree ? —————————- Saw the just-above-the-knee many times by ratty parents in my childhood(I was born 1952) & in the class sometimes. Both boys & girls got it in about equal doses & apart from leaving a pretty visible mark as a potential deterrent, it generally hurt, from what I remember of the miscreant’s reactions! Tell you what, too, like boxing-the short-range smack, not the flailing long wallop, was more effective. Especially if delivered in the midst of a verbal dressing-down or fierce scolding-one to eac...

Did the deterrent value of corporal punishment wear off after you had been caned a couple of times? I was a nice boy who was never whacked and couldn’t really imagine what it was like. I wonder if I’d been given a couple of strokes early on, I would have said “Well, that hurt, but I survived, I shan’t worry so much about getting into trouble from now on.” Or would it have been more like “OMG! That was a hundred times worse than I thought! I’m never going to forget my homework again!” Also: in the bad old days when the cane was quite common, did your bottom or your hand get physically used to it? I once met a lad who went to school in Scotland where the belt on the hand (just one stroke at a time) was almost a daily part of life, so he said. He definitely had a patch of hard skin on his lef...

In the Book “The Best type of girl-a history of independent schools” by Gillian Avery 1991 Andre Deutsch describes the flogging of girls by birch at Cowan Bridge(aka Casterton School)where Charlotte Bronte’s sister was” birched “as well as younger girls. Also, a school called Greycoat Charity hospital where girls, as well as boys, were “constantly flogged” and it was so severe that riots occurred and the Matron was arrested(for flogging). This however appears to be the sole reference in 300 years to the flogging by birch of females in Great Britain!(in School).Not very encouraging to all those fantasists out there who imagine a somewhat more frequent scenario? ——————————– For a good 160 of your 300 years, girls were not educated at all. Even into the middle Victorian period ie 1850-1870, a...

First, let me say I have never been spanked and I still feel embarrassed that I enjoy this subject. I am not sure when my interest started but I remember seeing my friend get spanked by our teacher in junior school, must have been about 10. The thing that struck me was how embarrassed she was by it. When the teacher Miss Hopwood called her up to the front of the class for talking, she was counting on her fingers to show that rather than talking she had been counting! Miss Hopwood put her over her knee, lifted up her skirt and spanked her bottom really hard! When she stood up her face was red and for some reason, she continued counting on her fingers all the way back to her seat!In this school, I also saw a girl called Christine Brown bent over in the corridor and the headmistress had lifte...

My interests here derive from realism and two distinct school years in my schooling.   We had one school year when an overwhelming percentage of the total school paddlings (including mine) occurred.  Lot of reasons for that.   But, the other year that was memorable was what you reference here.   At an earlier age, we had a teacher who was very serious about homework.  She kept telling us that not turning it in was unacceptable.   One day, she called each kid who had not turned in the assignment to front of class.   She sat in her chair and they lined up to her right (our left).   She took each one to her side, asked why homework was not done.   Each kid shrugged and was immediately over her knee for 5/6 spanks over clothes.   Not terribly h...

Did David Butler talk in class? And if he did, should he be caned for it? In 1960 David Butler’s story hit the news cycle. Many opinions on the matter were raised. The debate – to cane or not to cane? – was thrashed out in print, with opinions from not least of all 14-year-old David, his mother, Mrs Patricia Butler and the headmaster of Grays Grove County Secondary school, Harlow, Essex, England – no sniggering! – Mr Sidney Bottoms. On November 18, the Daily Express newspaper brought news that Mrs Butler had kept David off school “because he is in for a caning when he gets there”. David Butler had earlier refused to write out 60 times by way of punishment, “I must not speak when silence is requested.” “I have been caned eight times already,” said David, “by the deputy head and by...

Prior to 1940, most offences were treated with the same punishment. That was six strokes of the cane on the bottom. It seems that once a boy was in senior school any offence was six strokes. The idea being to make the caning hurt as much as possible. A boy would get one stroke and feel the full effects knowing that he had to keep bending over for more strokes and feeling each stroke hurting more than the previous. As we move into the 1960 era it was felt that boys did not need such harsh punishment and the number of strokes varied with the offence. Also for many reasons caning was done on the hands as well as the bottom. Hand caning prior to 1940 tended to be done on the non-writing hand. A boy could take six strokes on one hand leaving it swollen and unable to be used for days. Later cani...

Has anyone ever met up with an old school teacher who spanked them during the school days ? If so, did you discuss things with them or were you too embarrassed ? ————————— I met the Headmaster of my prep school at the school’s fete with my younger brother (who is 2 years younger and was still at the school) and my parents. He had caned me twice in the past, the last time about 2 years before. He asked me how I was getting on at my new school etc etc. and had a quick chat with my parents. The caning was never mentioned of course and at the time my parents did not know that the kindly old man they were talking to had whacked their son’s bottom. No letters home from private schools, it was a matter between you and the Headmaster, quite right to. The deputy head who caned me on my hands at my ...

Who remembers school in the 80s? Our school still had corporal punishment when I started in 1983. The headmaster would give children the slipper in his office. —————————————- Some schools retained corporal punishment until it was finally banned in UK state schools in 1987. It was used less frequently compared to the 1950s/60s when I was at school. Our daughters went to senior school, a large mixed comprehensive, from 1980. We had heard that they still used corporal punishment there but didn’t really believe it. There was a PTA meeting for parents of new pupils before they started in the autumn term. After an initial welcome by the headmaster we were invited to look around the school and to chat with some of the teachers. My wife and I split up and looked at different areas. Later that even...

The paddling of two City View High School students is raising questions about the practice of corporal punishment in schools. The mother of one of the students is furious over the reason her daughter was spanked and is concerned over who doled out the punishment.Charlotte Beaver said her 17-year-old daughter was spanked by City View Asst. Principal Daryl Frazier for using the bathroom after lunch. School officials disagreed.City View principal Raymond Weathersbee said the school started a new policy around three or four weeks ago. Because of tardiness issues, students are no longer allowed to use the bathroom after lunch period is over. Weathersbee said they have 30 minutes to take care of everything they need to.But, Beaver said her daughter was sick last Thursday and needed to use the ba...

I came across The Sternian 1999, the old school magazine of Lord Wandsworth College  and hidden in its pages is a brief mention of a girl being caned. It can be found on page 81 and is part of a reminiscence from a girl called Joyce Aston (nee Cox). She wrote “In the whole of Matron Hubble’s strict regime she only caned two pupils, guess who was one, I think I wanted to be noticed. I was called into the office “pull down your knickers Joyce Cox, I am going to spank you” are the words engraved on my mind forever. Bertha Prothero was the second girl.” . ——————————— Is there any indication or inference that a cane was actually used? Girls being spanked on their bottoms, usually with a slipper, and especially at summer camp , while not commonplace,is not as rare as som...