A personal view concerning instruments of punishment
The webpage concerning 'instruments of punishment' brought back a few memories for me. I am now retired from the
teaching profession, but in my time I wielded most of the instruments listed, apart from the birch.
THE SLIPPER
I began my teaching career by default, taking what I expected to be a temporary post in a small preparatory school.
I suppose I was both young and idealistic and at first I refused to resort to the slipper to keep order. The trouble
was that the slipper was an established institution in that school and the boys had never before encountered a
master who was averse to using it. The more boisterous pupils soon took advantage of my better nature and on one
memorable occasion I had to call upon the headmaster to restore order.
The immediate change in the demeanour of my class when the head strode into the classroom was astonishing. That
small greyhaired man was able to command complete obedience with the merest glance. He insisted that I slipper
the ringleaders and this I proceeded to do, although I suppose that my administration of corporal punishment was
a little half hearted and I noted that a couple of the culprits were grinning when they returned to their desks.
Now that I had at least shown willing to whack the worst troublemakers a degree of good order returned to my classes,
but I still had difficulty with a trio of difficult boys who were inclined to mischief as soon as my back was turned.
My patience was eventually exhausted and I called the three of them out to the front of the class. However, instead
of slippering them yet again I told them that I would be sending them to the headmaster. Never did looks of studied
indifference turn so rapidly to looks of extreme distress!
Chatting in the staffroom afterwards I learnt that even the toughest boys were terrified of being sent to the headmaster
because this nearly always resulted in a caning. Whilst a classroom slippering was limited to a maximum of three
whacks with an old plimsol across the trousered seat the headmaster invariably caned boys across their bare behinds.
The pain was said to be excruciating - much, much worse than a slippering. No wonder the boys I sent to the head
had been so terrified.
THE TAWSE
Later on I became a master at a Scottish boarding school run on English public school lines. The cane was available
for the more serious offences, but most misdemeanours were punished with the tawse, applied to the culprit's outstretched
palm. The heavy leather three-tailed tawse wielded by masters struck me as a more severe instrument of punishment
than the somewhat clumsy slipper I had grown accustomed to in the prep school. Certainly most pupils feared 'the
belt', especially if receiving a dose on both hands. The chastened boy would hobble back to his seat and immediately
thrust the stinging palm into the opposite armpit, gripping it tightly.
By now I had become somewhat cynical and valued my long shiny brown tawse as an invaluable aid to teaching. I also
avoided the mistakes I had made when I had started teaching in the prep school and right from the beginning I laid
the belt on well, so that it cracked good and hard across the offender's outstretched palm. I soon acquired the
reputation of being a hard belter (at least for an Englishman) and accordingly gained the respect of the boys.
Once I had inflicted a few energetic beltings, I was able to rely on the deterrent value of the implement. Boys
in my classes knew that I was willing to use the belt and lay it on well, and modified their behaviour accordingly.
THE CANE
After a few years at the school, I was offered the post of housemaster. Now I was in a position to wield the cane
for the first time and my thoughts went back to the headmaster at the prep school. The regulations regarding corporal
punishment were quite strict in this school (rightly so) and bare bottom canings were certainly not permitted.
However, by the use of good caning technique it is possible to impart a severe degree of discomfort with a good
swishy rod and my whackings soon became as feared as my beltings.
The boys wore dark grey worsted school trousers with cotton underpants - scant protection against a vigorously
swung cane. I always employed a good springy cane of medium thickness, fashioned from smooth, hard rattan. It is
a good idea to space the strokes, allowing several seconds between each one. When the cane first makes contact,
the pain is not immediate. At first there is just a dull ache and then all of a sudden the boy feels a burning
pain which spreads out from the point of impact like a forest fire. Just when the fiery sting begins to diminish
a little, the next stroke should land, sending more spasms of scalding agony through the offender's backside.
If he is receiving the minimum of three strokes, he will be muttering to himself 'Just one more to go' and congratulating
himself upon having got through the ordeal without breaking into tears. But if he has been sentenced to six of
the best - or perhaps the maximum of eight awarded for the most serious offences - the boy will be frightened out
of his wits, wondering just how he can endure the painful strokes that are still to come.
Today corporal punishment is forbidden in British schools and it would be very difficult to bring it back. I cannot
imagine a boy nowadays holding his hand out meekly for the tawse or bending over subserviently to have his backside
whacked. Attitudes have changed and authority no longer commands unswerving obedience. However, if there was a
return to the old ways and I had to select a favoured instrument of punishment it would be the cane, with the offender's
seat as the target. The pain is immediate and most unpleasant, yet no lasting harm is done and the punishment is
soon over and done with.