So who was caned at school?
Poll: So who was caned at school?
Total Members Polled: 560
Discussion
The cane was rarely used in my school. If it was, maybe three or four times a year it was carried out by the headmaster in private, but a notice would then appear on the noticeboard naming the recipient and the reason.
I got it twice and deserved it each time. I'm glad it was available, the second time it would have been that or expulsion.
I got it twice and deserved it each time. I'm glad it was available, the second time it would have been that or expulsion.
It will have been around '83/'84 when a small group of us were summoned to the heads office for being bad, It was early Winter. He didn't cane us, perhaps it had been banned by then, but he whacked the chair with it causing the dust to rise into the suns rays coming through the strange netted curtains.
I also remember a very Victorian deputy head named 'Wiggy' Walters, he had that proper old miserable bloke look about him, long face, big black rimmed glasses, never smiled, no sense of humour, big jug ears. To summon a kid he'd boom 'YOU BOY, COME HERE'.
Once in assembly something happened, I don't remember what, maybe a kid dicking around or even fainting as they did now and again.
He actually shouted 'YOU TEACHER, SORT THAT BOY OUT!' I could barely believe what i'd just seen, even as a kid I realised you shouldn't be shouting at people, nay fellow colleagues, in that manner.
They weren't pleasant times, some of the teachers were seriously nasty and would try to rule by shouting and screaming at the tops of their voices, kicking chairs and tables, pushing kids around, beating them on the back.
The fact I remember it so clearly means something.
I think that school had a bad rep' then and for a few years afterwards before someone more modern got in charge and pulled it around, it went from being a Grammar school, to High school and is now an Academy.
We think we're some distance away from the Victorian era, yet right there is the link. An old relic still in school in the 80s will have had Victorian parents with associated upbringing.
We recognise these days that there are reasons for kids doing what they do, it's not always because they're bad or stupid, they have conditions and personality traits which need addressing.
I wasn't any good at school, I found it difficult to concentrate (and still do) on something which didn't interest me. I was always the one gazing out of the window because watching the birds or someone mow the grass was much more interesting than learning algebra.
Back then if your results were poor (for whatever reason) you'd get put in a class with the seriously dumb, abusive bully types who would constantly disrupt the class so it was a downward spiral.
I wish I could have had my schooling in these more modern and understanding times, maybe I would have enjoyed it instead of hating it and responded better.
I also remember a very Victorian deputy head named 'Wiggy' Walters, he had that proper old miserable bloke look about him, long face, big black rimmed glasses, never smiled, no sense of humour, big jug ears. To summon a kid he'd boom 'YOU BOY, COME HERE'.
Once in assembly something happened, I don't remember what, maybe a kid dicking around or even fainting as they did now and again.
He actually shouted 'YOU TEACHER, SORT THAT BOY OUT!' I could barely believe what i'd just seen, even as a kid I realised you shouldn't be shouting at people, nay fellow colleagues, in that manner.
They weren't pleasant times, some of the teachers were seriously nasty and would try to rule by shouting and screaming at the tops of their voices, kicking chairs and tables, pushing kids around, beating them on the back.
The fact I remember it so clearly means something.
I think that school had a bad rep' then and for a few years afterwards before someone more modern got in charge and pulled it around, it went from being a Grammar school, to High school and is now an Academy.
We think we're some distance away from the Victorian era, yet right there is the link. An old relic still in school in the 80s will have had Victorian parents with associated upbringing.
We recognise these days that there are reasons for kids doing what they do, it's not always because they're bad or stupid, they have conditions and personality traits which need addressing.
I wasn't any good at school, I found it difficult to concentrate (and still do) on something which didn't interest me. I was always the one gazing out of the window because watching the birds or someone mow the grass was much more interesting than learning algebra.
Back then if your results were poor (for whatever reason) you'd get put in a class with the seriously dumb, abusive bully types who would constantly disrupt the class so it was a downward spiral.
I wish I could have had my schooling in these more modern and understanding times, maybe I would have enjoyed it instead of hating it and responded better.
I was once selected to do the main reading at the school Christmas church service. So it had to be practiced in advance. Obviously under supervision of a teacher, who happened to be a suspected wrong 'un in this case. His private "room" was no more than a dank understairs cupboard, where he took me for this practice. After several attempts he started getting angry at my alleged inabilty to read the passage in the required tone - and then the beating started. He so evidently enjoyed it, he would let out a squeal of delight with every impact on my behind, and I could see he was "excited" by his actions but didn't understand that aspect of it until I was a bit older. I'm just grateful he didn't take it any further, with hindsight I know he wanted to and it wouldn't surprise me if it had happened on other occasions if he couldn't control himself. This is only one of several spurious beatings I took from teachers at that school (boarding, natch, for boys aged 5-13), but that's the one which sticks in the memory most. At the summer Speech Day it was a tradition for the teachers to do a choir performance on stage to the parents - I recall one year they performed a song called "Fine Beating Weather". Physical (and indeed mental) abuse was an absolutely embedded, accepted and even encouraged part of the school's culture - a school born out of a military college and which preached Christian values.
I was 11 when that particular incident happened, I attended that instituion in the late 70s/early 80s.
Anyone who states that corporal punishment should be legal and commonplace is a sick, cruel, and deluded person. It's abuse, and it's wrong to the core. It may not do harm to every vicitim, but it does no benefit to anyone. Violence is never justfied.
I was 11 when that particular incident happened, I attended that instituion in the late 70s/early 80s.
Anyone who states that corporal punishment should be legal and commonplace is a sick, cruel, and deluded person. It's abuse, and it's wrong to the core. It may not do harm to every vicitim, but it does no benefit to anyone. Violence is never justfied.
Two reasons to beat a child:
1) You have lost control of your temper.
2) You have created a set if circumstances where normal disciplinary rules are not respected or sufficient.
Neither of these are the fault of the child.
The public school I went to had some really awful people who had their own issues. One who springs to mind was massively disorganised and the class would become more and more rowdy as he cocked up his lesson plan, any other teacher would have reined it in but he continued to flap and we continued to play up until ultimately he blew his top and either hit a child or trotted out some entirely spurious class punishment.
The ensuing ranting & raving would result in the rest of the lesson being wasted. The idea that a teacher of his quality could inflict a physical punishment on one of my children is abhorrent.
I do accept that there are some massively disruptive and wilfully disobedient pupils out there who’s behaviour and actions ruin the education of others.
Given the above better training for teachers and better resources for schools is the answer not bringing back the cane.
1) You have lost control of your temper.
2) You have created a set if circumstances where normal disciplinary rules are not respected or sufficient.
Neither of these are the fault of the child.
The public school I went to had some really awful people who had their own issues. One who springs to mind was massively disorganised and the class would become more and more rowdy as he cocked up his lesson plan, any other teacher would have reined it in but he continued to flap and we continued to play up until ultimately he blew his top and either hit a child or trotted out some entirely spurious class punishment.
The ensuing ranting & raving would result in the rest of the lesson being wasted. The idea that a teacher of his quality could inflict a physical punishment on one of my children is abhorrent.
I do accept that there are some massively disruptive and wilfully disobedient pupils out there who’s behaviour and actions ruin the education of others.
Given the above better training for teachers and better resources for schools is the answer not bringing back the cane.
Mixed feelings about this.
I was caned back in the 60's by both teachers and my dad, and although I'm pretty much (?) a law-abiding citizen these days I'm not sure I would've been any different if I hadn't been physically abused.
Oh, and since those days it has occurred to me on a number of occasions that the teachers who did this were almost definitely perverted.
I was caned back in the 60's by both teachers and my dad, and although I'm pretty much (?) a law-abiding citizen these days I'm not sure I would've been any different if I hadn't been physically abused.
Oh, and since those days it has occurred to me on a number of occasions that the teachers who did this were almost definitely perverted.
I'm from Scotland, so was belted rather than caned. We had the "tawse" , a tongued leather strap specifically made for the purpose of terrifying children.
Some teachers used it as a deterrent, and it worked alongside other threats and punishments in keeping class discipline, and some good teachers didn't need to . Others, mostly inadequate little men, used it as a means of exerting power over people much smaller and weaker than them. On balance, as there was really no control over these horrible little creatures who should never have been let anywhere near kids, it was a bad thing.
I was belted at the age of 5 by a headmaster who accused me of something I didn't do and which I refused to admit to, my punishment was far worse than that of the kids who were guilty and admitted it. He's dead now and one of the few people I can say that I'm happy that he is.
I was belted on a daily basis by my nasty little form teacher every morning I came into class for an entire year. I can't remember what I'd said to him (other than that it was true) but as I refused to retract it and apologise, each and every day I got six of the best as soon as I arrived at school each morning. Great incentive for a teenager. He's still alive and I occasionally see him toddling about my home town when I go back there. It's all I can do to restrain myself from accosting him in the street some 40 years on.
I believe that the physical violence inflicted on kids back then
will affect them for the rest of their lives.
Some teachers used it as a deterrent, and it worked alongside other threats and punishments in keeping class discipline, and some good teachers didn't need to . Others, mostly inadequate little men, used it as a means of exerting power over people much smaller and weaker than them. On balance, as there was really no control over these horrible little creatures who should never have been let anywhere near kids, it was a bad thing.
I was belted at the age of 5 by a headmaster who accused me of something I didn't do and which I refused to admit to, my punishment was far worse than that of the kids who were guilty and admitted it. He's dead now and one of the few people I can say that I'm happy that he is.
I was belted on a daily basis by my nasty little form teacher every morning I came into class for an entire year. I can't remember what I'd said to him (other than that it was true) but as I refused to retract it and apologise, each and every day I got six of the best as soon as I arrived at school each morning. Great incentive for a teenager. He's still alive and I occasionally see him toddling about my home town when I go back there. It's all I can do to restrain myself from accosting him in the street some 40 years on.
I believe that the physical violence inflicted on kids back then
will affect them for the rest of their lives.
t so was fairly normal.I seem to recall that we have Prince Andrew to thank for the end of caning , the day the vote was called the MPs struggled to get into the house due to the royal wedding between him and Fergie
Anyhow I got caned once , deserved more but was trying to kick the door in during lunch break as I had been ejected by a perfect
Worse was the dap/plimsoll that the games masters were keen on delivering , to the buttocks, perhaps too keen as I heard that one had been sacked from a later school for dodgy behaviour
Anyhow I got caned once , deserved more but was trying to kick the door in during lunch break as I had been ejected by a perfect
Worse was the dap/plimsoll that the games masters were keen on delivering , to the buttocks, perhaps too keen as I heard that one had been sacked from a later school for dodgy behaviour
I never saw a proper cane.
Just wooden metre rules that frequently came down onto a desk of any pupil not concentrating enough on their work. Once or twice onto the palm of a hand. One of those teachers I now realise I was told was diabetic, I wasn't told what that meant, what a hypo was or why he'd get extremely angry, sweating, lash out at everyone then stagger or be pulled out of the class by another teacher. I don't think it ever even landed on my desk, it was mostly one particular kid who ended upon the receiving end before getting expelled and later diagnosed with ADHD.
Just wooden metre rules that frequently came down onto a desk of any pupil not concentrating enough on their work. Once or twice onto the palm of a hand. One of those teachers I now realise I was told was diabetic, I wasn't told what that meant, what a hypo was or why he'd get extremely angry, sweating, lash out at everyone then stagger or be pulled out of the class by another teacher. I don't think it ever even landed on my desk, it was mostly one particular kid who ended upon the receiving end before getting expelled and later diagnosed with ADHD.
Desiderata said:
I'm from Scotland, so was belted rather than caned. We had the "tawse" , a tongued leather strap specifically made for the purpose of terrifying children.
You can still buy them. For what purpose I shudder to think.https://johndick-leathergoods.co.uk/product-catego...
One teacher used to start each term by walloping his tawse on the desk as a subtle reminder of what lay in store.
I went to a Grammar School in the 70's.
Horrible place staffed with the usual array of psycho teachers and a cane happy headmaster who loved to give small boys a good thrashing.
We had one particularly horrible PE teacher (it's always a PE Teacher) who loved to bully. A real frustrated RSM.
I managed to stay out of his way most of the time and his idiocy used to lessen as you got older.
But in my last year he was ripping into one kid over something stupid, a real shouty dressing down & I basically told him to STFU & wind his neck in.
Sent to the head who told me he'd be giving me the cane.
I'd had enough of this by then so told him if he thought he could do it, go ahead but I'd be taking it off him.
He called the PE teacher in for back up who got told the same.
It didn't happen but I did get lots of detention.
Horrible place staffed with the usual array of psycho teachers and a cane happy headmaster who loved to give small boys a good thrashing.
We had one particularly horrible PE teacher (it's always a PE Teacher) who loved to bully. A real frustrated RSM.
I managed to stay out of his way most of the time and his idiocy used to lessen as you got older.
But in my last year he was ripping into one kid over something stupid, a real shouty dressing down & I basically told him to STFU & wind his neck in.
Sent to the head who told me he'd be giving me the cane.
I'd had enough of this by then so told him if he thought he could do it, go ahead but I'd be taking it off him.
He called the PE teacher in for back up who got told the same.
It didn't happen but I did get lots of detention.
It had gone by the time I was at school, but I wouldn't have needed it anyway - my dad would have beaten the crap out of me if I'd got into any trouble anyway.
Only time I remember a teacher physically disciplining a pupil was a PE teacher rugby tackling someone trying to run away after there'd been a punch-up on the field at breaktime. Said teacher also once threw a basketball full bore into the wall of the gym when one group wouldn't shut up - it impacted just above their heads and certainly scared them into shutting up! No one complained, cos said PE teacher was a very nice bloke the rest of the time.
Sadly, while I was in sixth form he was killed in a car crash
RIP Mr Arthur.
Only time I remember a teacher physically disciplining a pupil was a PE teacher rugby tackling someone trying to run away after there'd been a punch-up on the field at breaktime. Said teacher also once threw a basketball full bore into the wall of the gym when one group wouldn't shut up - it impacted just above their heads and certainly scared them into shutting up! No one complained, cos said PE teacher was a very nice bloke the rest of the time.
Sadly, while I was in sixth form he was killed in a car crash
RIP Mr Arthur.Our Latin & Geography teacher use to spank us. You had a choice of taking it on the hand or on the 'arris and you were hard as nails if you didn't cry from the pain. The punishment was not just for misbehaving, but the target for Latin comprehension was 18/20 - any less and it was one harsh whack with a handbrush. Of course some boys failed miserably and got a good dozen spanks. We had to swap exercise books to mark each others work and several of us didn't want our friends to be whacked and deliberately marked incorrect spellings as correct. The Latin teacher did a spot check and 3 of us received a dozen thwacks.
And don't get me started on being molested by the head teacher...
And don't get me started on being molested by the head teacher...
I left school in 1986. Cane had stopped by then, I think.
Worst punishment I had was the slipper when I was about 11 in junior school. That smarted enough for me!
My elder brothers left school in 80 & 82, and I know they were both on the receiving end of the cane whilst at school, usually for fighting (not each other).
Worst punishment I had was the slipper when I was about 11 in junior school. That smarted enough for me!
My elder brothers left school in 80 & 82, and I know they were both on the receiving end of the cane whilst at school, usually for fighting (not each other).
Left school 77/78 I think. Cant ever recall being caned or hit by a teacher at any of the schools I attended(south coast). Was always shy and didnt do "dodgy" things or if I did wasnt punished with a stick.
Mother however often hit us with a long wooden spoon.
Got off lightly I reckon.
Mother however often hit us with a long wooden spoon.
Got off lightly I reckon.
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