21st Century Dodos: A Collection of Endangered Objects (and Other Stuff) by Stack Steve

Author:Stack, Steve [Stack, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2011-09-28T16:00:00+00:00

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Corporal Punishment

This was on its way out when I was a lad back in the ’70s, but it was only eradicated from all British schools as recently as 2003 (where the last private schools in Northern Ireland finally stopped the practice). It was banned in state schools in 1987. The year I left. Coincidence? I think not.

In olden times, the weapon of choice for headmasters and teachers was the cane, a whippy piece of bamboo or similar wood, that would administer a good whack and a mighty sting to whichever part of the body it was applied to with force. To this day, the classic image of a posh schoolboy hiding a book down his trousers to deaden the pain of six of the best is well known to all.

But it wasn’t just the cane, the slipper was also a common punishment implement, presumably because the flexible sole gave it a bit of heft. I can recall my PE teacher using an old trainer to spank the kids who forgot their kit. The fact that he used to administer this punishment in the showers probably harmed his reputation more than it acted as a deterrent.

Some teachers, such as my history teacher Mr Milne, were more creative with their punishments. He would stand behind the offending boy and pick him up by the little straggly bits of hair by the ears; if you didn’t manage to stand up in time with him, then it was agony.

But hilarious to the rest of the class.

And that was the thing. Apart from some extreme cases of proper cruelty, I don’t think most kids minded corporal punishment. It added some excitement to school life. Getting caught doing something wrong got you a wrap over the knuckles or a blackboard rubber hurled at you across the room, and that made it more risky, gave it an edge.

I know I sound like a real old fogey, but discipline in schools now is a genuine problem; there must be some connection between this and the fact that a teacher can no longer give someone a whack. If my son came home from school and told me he’d had a clip round the ear for being cheeky, I’d say it served him right. Many other parents would sue, the teacher would be suspended, and it would be front-page news.

So, while I am not mourning the passing of a proper bare-arsed caning, I do think it is a shame, for both teachers and pupils, that the war of Us v. Them isn’t made that little bit more dangerous by the allowance of a tiny amount of violence from the grown-ups.

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