So who was caned at school?
Poll: So who was caned at school?
Total Members Polled: 560
Discussion
Left school in 1980. Jesuit boarding school
Over the years had the slipper, the Tolley (leather strap similar to the tawse) and full on canings resulting in bloody weals across my arse cheeks.
Getting the tawse across the palms of your hands is way way more painful than the arse, I can see why they torture people on the soles of their feet.
On the upside six of the best from a slipper was a better result than 2 hours detention. The Tolley and the cane really did hurt and we had plenty of alcoholic Jesuits happy enough to dish it out to us.
Over the years had the slipper, the Tolley (leather strap similar to the tawse) and full on canings resulting in bloody weals across my arse cheeks.
Getting the tawse across the palms of your hands is way way more painful than the arse, I can see why they torture people on the soles of their feet.
On the upside six of the best from a slipper was a better result than 2 hours detention. The Tolley and the cane really did hurt and we had plenty of alcoholic Jesuits happy enough to dish it out to us.
It was a barbaric world we grew up in. For years I always promised myself that if I met my old headmaster I would break his nose. Realising that was equally Neanderthal, I now would just ask him if he was ashamed and point out that that sort of behaviour today would result in a prison sentence now.
Not the cane but the slipper and various sized plimsolls often in public in the corridor. (I'm 59)
Never did me any harm and I certainly probably deserved it..
Cow the Kids. Bring them up in fear. It's the only way.
Things we should not give them:- self confidence, money, knowledge of sex, equality with adults, precedence on buses, pavements, or anywhere else.
Do they now have a joyful, smiling happy childhood? They don't. They scowl and sulk their way through, while cycling and skateboarding over old people, stabbing each other and spending more money than their Grandads ever earned. They make everybody else's life absolutely miserable for years until they graduate to drugs and Nightclubs and reach the estate of adulthood themselves.
Children swagger. Well they might, they've got a lot to swagger about. They're in charge. They have learned that nobody can do anything about them. Nobody can discipline them. The schools abdicated that responsibility some years ago, leaving chastisement to their parents.....Unfortunately parents had placed it in the hand of schools long before that, so the result is nobody disciplines them at all, and the bitter fact for all adults is that all children know it.
As a child you can do as you like, it is the only time in life that you can. They are making the most of it. A child can follow a wheelchair-bound old lady down the street, shouting obscenities at her, and nothing can be done about it? Didn't know that did you? Well it's true.
As a witness to the wheelchair incident, what are you going to do? Smack?..Don't be silly. Do you like prison food.
Hold on to the kid and tell it off? Might as well go straight home and daub your own walls.
Gently rebuke the child yourself, verbally? You will thereby effectually transfer the abuse to yourself (and your family and friends) and can be followed round the streets all morning, with this child and it's cohorts, calling you a paedophile.
What if you just report it to the Police? They love the Police these little gangs of hooligans, they don't run away from them, no reason to. They smile when they come and have a jolly good time, play-fighting among themselves with arm-locks to confuse the officers. Teeny girls squeal at the extra attentions of teeny boys when the police are present. A 'telling-off' from the Police is both futile and dangerous, not to the child, to the Officer! Poor Police, impotent and baited.
Should you, or the Police, go to their homes and tell their parents? Ho Ho. There are a lot of unlikelihoods here. First it is not likely that there are two natural parents, maybe a single mother on her own, too harrassed to do anything. She's got lots of kids, it's not easy and she may take the line of less resistance and let the kids roam. She may be cross with the child, and be upset and cry. But the idea was to make it bad for the child, not the Mother. Maybe the single mother has a new man who must not lay a finger on 'her' kids. There's no wrath like that of a father who can actually give them a belt, and no substitute for the effect that can have. Even if there are two proper parents nowadays, they probably do not believe in physical punishment, it is also odd nowadays that parents do not believe that their particular little rat-bag can be guilty of anything.
These parents will also ascribe the anti-social behaviour of their little devil, to those with whom he associates, his unsuitable friends, who keep getting him into trouble. Great myth this is. It is the little devil himself, or herself, and all the other little devils who are no better than one another. Why these parents believe their child would become a paragon of virtue if his playmates changed is a mystery.
Lying used to be the worst crime in the old days, in BTOC. (Before Tyranny Of Children) It isn't now. Kids will deny any wrongdoing. They always do, all the time, and for everything. They lie blithely you see. They lie themselves blue in the face. They have discovered that most often they get away with murder in the absence of proof. Lies are very powerful. No one can ever be sure. So the parents can't be sure he/she's that bad. You, or the Police, or the Archbishop of Canterbury do not carry much weight in your testimonies if their precious says it was not him. The precious is called Tom. He says the Old Lady was tormented mainly by Dick and partly by Harry. The parents will believe anything bad of Dick and Harry, in fact these are two of the children that will lead their Tom into bad ways.
We knew it all along. The little old lady in the wheel chair is at fault. She tried to get past the bikes on the pavement outside the Post Office. She might have tutted when they threw coke cans down. Perhaps she shook her head when they spat on the pavement, or waved a skinny hand and said 'Don't do that.' when they kicked the shrubs down in the Civic Gardens.
I accept that hitting kids is not a good thing. It's just a better thing than the Old Ladies treatment and all of us tip-toeing around letting little anarchists ruin the place. Not all kids need it anyway. They are different. The best do not perform the anti-social acts I have described. There is great pressure from their peers to do so but many, unfortunately at some personal cost, resist it and behave properly. Let's not start knocking that sort of kid about. It's more difficult for a kid to be good than bad thanks to the masses of nasty kids who are cheeky and rude and disrespectful and violent and cowardly because they have found they have such power.
These disrupters weren't bad to start with. They thought they were just kids and had better keep their heads down and keep out of the way of busy grown ups, and be polite, or they'd be in trouble with everybody. Surprise, surprise, they found they weren't in trouble with anyone. They could upset all those tall people, make some cry, make some argue with each other, but the effect on themselves was virtually nil. They learn to smirk at age six.
Kids don't worry about sanctions being applied at home. Taking away the IPad, no phone, no television, no internet few less Big Macs. This immediately turns the child more obnoxious at home than it was before. This obnoxious behaviour, which a 'clip of the ear' would soon cure, is so terrible, sanctions are soon relaxed, reparations are even made to restore the 'status quo'.
'Grounding' does not work. It is possible for the average eleven year old to wear down any two adults in an hour of whining and sulking. Those people who took hostages in the middle east for years wouldn't have kept them a day if they had been modern kids of twelve.
Now the boot is so thoroughly on the other foot Children can apply counter sanctions. Invoke Childline. Dial-up premium charge calls on the phone. Be 'bored' i.e. start kicking the veneer from the kitchen base unit which is already falling to bits. Be 'difficult' at meal times. (one pea and it can all be thrown away) I'm afraid they have terrible power if they can't be intimidated.
This must all be turned round mustn't it? If these kids were hungry they'd eat anything. If they were always assumed guilty on accusation and given a thrashing, they'd start to avoid the circumstances which led to it. We should assume all children are guilty little swine first, not the adults. It's hard, but turning round this runaway juggernaut is going to be hard, when one extra click on the handbrake would have done the job a few years ago.
Never did me any harm and I certainly probably deserved it..
Cow the Kids. Bring them up in fear. It's the only way.
Things we should not give them:- self confidence, money, knowledge of sex, equality with adults, precedence on buses, pavements, or anywhere else.
Do they now have a joyful, smiling happy childhood? They don't. They scowl and sulk their way through, while cycling and skateboarding over old people, stabbing each other and spending more money than their Grandads ever earned. They make everybody else's life absolutely miserable for years until they graduate to drugs and Nightclubs and reach the estate of adulthood themselves.
Children swagger. Well they might, they've got a lot to swagger about. They're in charge. They have learned that nobody can do anything about them. Nobody can discipline them. The schools abdicated that responsibility some years ago, leaving chastisement to their parents.....Unfortunately parents had placed it in the hand of schools long before that, so the result is nobody disciplines them at all, and the bitter fact for all adults is that all children know it.
As a child you can do as you like, it is the only time in life that you can. They are making the most of it. A child can follow a wheelchair-bound old lady down the street, shouting obscenities at her, and nothing can be done about it? Didn't know that did you? Well it's true.
As a witness to the wheelchair incident, what are you going to do? Smack?..Don't be silly. Do you like prison food.
Hold on to the kid and tell it off? Might as well go straight home and daub your own walls.
Gently rebuke the child yourself, verbally? You will thereby effectually transfer the abuse to yourself (and your family and friends) and can be followed round the streets all morning, with this child and it's cohorts, calling you a paedophile.
What if you just report it to the Police? They love the Police these little gangs of hooligans, they don't run away from them, no reason to. They smile when they come and have a jolly good time, play-fighting among themselves with arm-locks to confuse the officers. Teeny girls squeal at the extra attentions of teeny boys when the police are present. A 'telling-off' from the Police is both futile and dangerous, not to the child, to the Officer! Poor Police, impotent and baited.
Should you, or the Police, go to their homes and tell their parents? Ho Ho. There are a lot of unlikelihoods here. First it is not likely that there are two natural parents, maybe a single mother on her own, too harrassed to do anything. She's got lots of kids, it's not easy and she may take the line of less resistance and let the kids roam. She may be cross with the child, and be upset and cry. But the idea was to make it bad for the child, not the Mother. Maybe the single mother has a new man who must not lay a finger on 'her' kids. There's no wrath like that of a father who can actually give them a belt, and no substitute for the effect that can have. Even if there are two proper parents nowadays, they probably do not believe in physical punishment, it is also odd nowadays that parents do not believe that their particular little rat-bag can be guilty of anything.
These parents will also ascribe the anti-social behaviour of their little devil, to those with whom he associates, his unsuitable friends, who keep getting him into trouble. Great myth this is. It is the little devil himself, or herself, and all the other little devils who are no better than one another. Why these parents believe their child would become a paragon of virtue if his playmates changed is a mystery.
Lying used to be the worst crime in the old days, in BTOC. (Before Tyranny Of Children) It isn't now. Kids will deny any wrongdoing. They always do, all the time, and for everything. They lie blithely you see. They lie themselves blue in the face. They have discovered that most often they get away with murder in the absence of proof. Lies are very powerful. No one can ever be sure. So the parents can't be sure he/she's that bad. You, or the Police, or the Archbishop of Canterbury do not carry much weight in your testimonies if their precious says it was not him. The precious is called Tom. He says the Old Lady was tormented mainly by Dick and partly by Harry. The parents will believe anything bad of Dick and Harry, in fact these are two of the children that will lead their Tom into bad ways.
We knew it all along. The little old lady in the wheel chair is at fault. She tried to get past the bikes on the pavement outside the Post Office. She might have tutted when they threw coke cans down. Perhaps she shook her head when they spat on the pavement, or waved a skinny hand and said 'Don't do that.' when they kicked the shrubs down in the Civic Gardens.
I accept that hitting kids is not a good thing. It's just a better thing than the Old Ladies treatment and all of us tip-toeing around letting little anarchists ruin the place. Not all kids need it anyway. They are different. The best do not perform the anti-social acts I have described. There is great pressure from their peers to do so but many, unfortunately at some personal cost, resist it and behave properly. Let's not start knocking that sort of kid about. It's more difficult for a kid to be good than bad thanks to the masses of nasty kids who are cheeky and rude and disrespectful and violent and cowardly because they have found they have such power.
These disrupters weren't bad to start with. They thought they were just kids and had better keep their heads down and keep out of the way of busy grown ups, and be polite, or they'd be in trouble with everybody. Surprise, surprise, they found they weren't in trouble with anyone. They could upset all those tall people, make some cry, make some argue with each other, but the effect on themselves was virtually nil. They learn to smirk at age six.
Kids don't worry about sanctions being applied at home. Taking away the IPad, no phone, no television, no internet few less Big Macs. This immediately turns the child more obnoxious at home than it was before. This obnoxious behaviour, which a 'clip of the ear' would soon cure, is so terrible, sanctions are soon relaxed, reparations are even made to restore the 'status quo'.
'Grounding' does not work. It is possible for the average eleven year old to wear down any two adults in an hour of whining and sulking. Those people who took hostages in the middle east for years wouldn't have kept them a day if they had been modern kids of twelve.
Now the boot is so thoroughly on the other foot Children can apply counter sanctions. Invoke Childline. Dial-up premium charge calls on the phone. Be 'bored' i.e. start kicking the veneer from the kitchen base unit which is already falling to bits. Be 'difficult' at meal times. (one pea and it can all be thrown away) I'm afraid they have terrible power if they can't be intimidated.
This must all be turned round mustn't it? If these kids were hungry they'd eat anything. If they were always assumed guilty on accusation and given a thrashing, they'd start to avoid the circumstances which led to it. We should assume all children are guilty little swine first, not the adults. It's hard, but turning round this runaway juggernaut is going to be hard, when one extra click on the handbrake would have done the job a few years ago.
We had the "dap", (a plimsoll) across the arse for just about any rule infringement. Used so frequently so as to become a meaningless punishment.
It was administered by the deputy head, a sadistic b
d who would surely be in prison now if he carried on like he did in a modern school.
We all moved on to the next school where corporal punishment but not mental punishment was banned. As I was friendly with the gang of hard case nutters at that school and spent time helping them learn to read and write I was often privy to their latest escapade.
I had heard that the aforementioned deputy head had been assaulted, serious enough to spend time in hospital. The nutters found out where he lived, went round there and beat the st out of him.
From what I remember of the incident the police had no luck identifying the culprits.
I thought it was what we would now call karma. Should I have dobbed them in, yes but self preservation prevented me.
It was administered by the deputy head, a sadistic b
d who would surely be in prison now if he carried on like he did in a modern school.We all moved on to the next school where corporal punishment but not mental punishment was banned. As I was friendly with the gang of hard case nutters at that school and spent time helping them learn to read and write I was often privy to their latest escapade.
I had heard that the aforementioned deputy head had been assaulted, serious enough to spend time in hospital. The nutters found out where he lived, went round there and beat the s
t out of him. From what I remember of the incident the police had no luck identifying the culprits.
I thought it was what we would now call karma. Should I have dobbed them in, yes but self preservation prevented me.
Not the cane but the 'strap' or the belt as we call it here.
From P5 through to P7, I unfortunately was a pest and would say it was an extremely regular occurrence; stand out one was for bunking off with my bestie to go and see E.T at the cinema and being dobbed in to the teacher by a very pretty girl on our table called Alison.
5 each for that little adventure.
Some kids were really terrified of it; I seen it as an occupational hazard of being a pillock.
Oddly, not even once in secondary. I somehow dodged it but there was still plenty of it getting lashed about.
Ahhh; the good old days.
From P5 through to P7, I unfortunately was a pest and would say it was an extremely regular occurrence; stand out one was for bunking off with my bestie to go and see E.T at the cinema and being dobbed in to the teacher by a very pretty girl on our table called Alison.
5 each for that little adventure.
Some kids were really terrified of it; I seen it as an occupational hazard of being a pillock.
Oddly, not even once in secondary. I somehow dodged it but there was still plenty of it getting lashed about.
Ahhh; the good old days.
Luckily, I was never naughty enough to get strapped or caned . I once spent a full year on detention but that was for 'minor ' incidents, such as farting in class etc. 
To be fair, the thought of being strapped was a real deterrent to me! If that threat wasn't there, I'm sure I'd have gone more off the rails as I was easily led back then.
To be fair, the thought of being strapped was a real deterrent to me! If that threat wasn't there, I'm sure I'd have gone more off the rails as I was easily led back then.
I think the cane was before my time. I did get the slipper from the Headmaster in what would've been the late 70's IIRC though. I will always remember being bent over the Headmasters desk while he clouted me with it a few times, and I was just staring at his two sausage dogs in their dog bed! Also had the ruler wrapped around my knuckles, and the chalkboard rubber thrown at me as well.
Punishment is none existent now in schools though in comparison. I'd love to be at school now, and knowing that I could do whatever I wanted(without getting any discipline for it) for sure. I'd run riot big time!
Punishment is none existent now in schools though in comparison. I'd love to be at school now, and knowing that I could do whatever I wanted(without getting any discipline for it) for sure. I'd run riot big time!
I got the slipper a couple of times. Maybe the cane once?
Just saw this documentary on the subject. (trigger warning!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWNRNMMIn-s
Just saw this documentary on the subject. (trigger warning!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWNRNMMIn-s
I got caned a few times during my school career (1970's) - the ones I got for smoking and skivng-off, kind of went with the territory.
The ones I got for fighting were unjust, in my view. My Dad's job moved our family very frequently and as a consequence, I attended 4 different schools between the age of 11 and 16. Being a 'new kid' usually meant a succession of likely lads wanting to demonstrate how hard they were. The result was that I ended-up in quite a few punch-ups, that invariably ended-up with me and my fellow protagonists in the head-masters office, for a helping of corporal punishment.
Nothing quite as demoralizing as getting your face punched in the yard - only to be rewarded with a good, hearty caning, because you had the temerity to be a new addition to the school.
They say your school days are the happiest of your life. I beg to differ.
The ones I got for fighting were unjust, in my view. My Dad's job moved our family very frequently and as a consequence, I attended 4 different schools between the age of 11 and 16. Being a 'new kid' usually meant a succession of likely lads wanting to demonstrate how hard they were. The result was that I ended-up in quite a few punch-ups, that invariably ended-up with me and my fellow protagonists in the head-masters office, for a helping of corporal punishment.
Nothing quite as demoralizing as getting your face punched in the yard - only to be rewarded with a good, hearty caning, because you had the temerity to be a new addition to the school.
They say your school days are the happiest of your life. I beg to differ.
Matt Harper said:
They say your school days are the happiest of your life. I beg to differ.
Completely agree. My life improved massively as soon as I left school. My school days were easily the worst days of my life for sure(I also suffered from moving schools a bit and being the new kid). number2 said:
Banned in states schools in 1987 apparently - surprising as I thought it was way before then!
I was thought it was banned earlier as well. I would have started Junior school and there were teachers you heard who were strict. They were the ones who lost it and go bright red, lose their temper and shout. They either ended up retiring or stayed in employment as supply teachers.I remember one time we was in lunchtime detention and the headmaster caught me flicking the V sign at him! He took me into the supply cupboard and gave me the hairdryer treatment. Ironically he took pity on me when I was massively caned by my mum and I wouldn't do PE. Can't remember how my teacher found out but I had to see the HM and pull my trousers down in front of him and asked me who did it. That was all there was to it and nothing dodgy occured in retrospect during that encounter. Don't know what came of it and still to this day I haven't mentioned this to my mum.
Yep - me and my best mate at the time - for bullying! 1983 it must have been. Now we were taking the mick out of a lad who was in the year below on the way home from school - he flipped and got off his bike, punching me like mad. I hit him back, once, and hard!
Thought that was the end of it - until the next day when we were called in to the Head's office. Severe bking from him and left having been told he was taking the night to consider the next steps!
That evening, I was in my room doing homework, I heard the phone go and mum answer. Cold ran through my veins when I heard her say "whatever punishment you think he deserves, I agree with".
I then had the shrill "get down here NOW" and a severe rollicking from mum.
Next day, the cane. Two whacks from the Head who took a run up - think Happy Gilmore - with a stick an inch thick. One on the ass, one on lower back.
Yes it hurt, a lot. Yes I learned a lesson. Also - Don't fight with the son of the chairman of the governors!!!
which reminds me:
Getting caught smoking and drinking the alcoholic cocktail in the girls toilets at the 5th year Xmas Disco (a cocktail sneaked from Mums drinks cabinet - so vodka, sherry, martini) resulted in a telling off!
And I wont mention the stabbing incident in maths!!
Oh - and when my pressure cooker exploded over lunch time when making marmalade - resulted in the threat of the cane!!
Thought that was the end of it - until the next day when we were called in to the Head's office. Severe b
king from him and left having been told he was taking the night to consider the next steps! That evening, I was in my room doing homework, I heard the phone go and mum answer. Cold ran through my veins when I heard her say "whatever punishment you think he deserves, I agree with".
I then had the shrill "get down here NOW" and a severe rollicking from mum.
Next day, the cane. Two whacks from the Head who took a run up - think Happy Gilmore - with a stick an inch thick. One on the ass, one on lower back.
Yes it hurt, a lot. Yes I learned a lesson. Also - Don't fight with the son of the chairman of the governors!!!
which reminds me:
Getting caught smoking and drinking the alcoholic cocktail in the girls toilets at the 5th year Xmas Disco (a cocktail sneaked from Mums drinks cabinet - so vodka, sherry, martini) resulted in a telling off!
And I wont mention the stabbing incident in maths!!
Oh - and when my pressure cooker exploded over lunch time when making marmalade - resulted in the threat of the cane!!
Edited by mattyn1 on Wednesday 10th November 14:31
As I recall corporal punishment was scrapped in my first year at senior school when I was 11/12 - thiis was early 80s, but I got whacked across the palms with a rule around this time
I think some of the older teachers couldn't handle the fact that they couldn't hand out indiscrimnate beatings for minor misdeamours any more & took early retirement. One such lovely man insisted on silence in his class. One day, the lad behind me whispered 'Littleowl, lend us your rubber;.
I passed it back silently without even looking round, but this was enough to turn the teacher a bright shade of crimson.
"What are you doing?" he screamed at the lad behind me. "Come to the front now"
Lad did so. When asked what he was doing he told the truth : I only asked Littleowl if I coukld borrow his rubber, sir"
I put my hand up (big mistake)
and said ;'It's true sir, he just asked to borrow my rubber'.
This was enough to turn teacher purple. "WHO ASKED YOU?" he screamed "YOU COME HERE AS WELL".
I did so he then proceeded to whack the pair of us on the palms with a wooden rule while screaming about 'silence being golden' & 'not answering back'.
Evil old bd. Punish the guilty by all means, but let it fit the 'crime'. Some of the older pupils who had suffered at his hands in previous years threw a party in his honour when he left - they made a point of making sure he found out, but not inviting him 
The only other incident of note involved lengthy detentions following a school trip to London, where some of us thought the Whispering Gallery in St Pauls would be a good place to have a farting contest....
I think some of the older teachers couldn't handle the fact that they couldn't hand out indiscrimnate beatings for minor misdeamours any more & took early retirement. One such lovely man insisted on silence in his class. One day, the lad behind me whispered 'Littleowl, lend us your rubber;.
I passed it back silently without even looking round, but this was enough to turn the teacher a bright shade of crimson.
"What are you doing?" he screamed at the lad behind me. "Come to the front now"
Lad did so. When asked what he was doing he told the truth : I only asked Littleowl if I coukld borrow his rubber, sir"
I put my hand up (big mistake)
and said ;'It's true sir, he just asked to borrow my rubber'.This was enough to turn teacher purple. "WHO ASKED YOU?" he screamed "YOU COME HERE AS WELL".
I did so he then proceeded to whack the pair of us on the palms with a wooden rule while screaming about 'silence being golden' & 'not answering back'.
Evil old b
d. Punish the guilty by all means, but let it fit the 'crime'. Some of the older pupils who had suffered at his hands in previous years threw a party in his honour when he left - they made a point of making sure he found out, but not inviting him The only other incident of note involved lengthy detentions following a school trip to London, where some of us thought the Whispering Gallery in St Pauls would be a good place to have a farting contest....
I can't believe nobody has taken Peterperkins up on his rant.
I'm unsure whether he's serious (and desperately delusional) or it's tongue in cheek.
Anyway, at nine I was sent to boarding school. Which was barbaric. We were forced to eat everything that was put in front of us and regular beatings by either ruler or a Scholl sandal were 'normal'. We were forbidden from watching TV at all and had virtually shaven heads. This was in the early 70s. I absolutely hated it.
I'm unsure whether he's serious (and desperately delusional) or it's tongue in cheek.
Anyway, at nine I was sent to boarding school. Which was barbaric. We were forced to eat everything that was put in front of us and regular beatings by either ruler or a Scholl sandal were 'normal'. We were forbidden from watching TV at all and had virtually shaven heads. This was in the early 70s. I absolutely hated it.
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