Growing up with SCP

It’s ages since I started a new topic in this Forum, probably because I’ve already said nearly all that I have to say and I don’t want to bore readers by repeating myself too much. But I do wonder whether there might be some mileage left in asking the older members of our community if they recall more general aspects of growing up with corporal punishment used in school. By this, I don’t mean particular instances of receiving CP; what I have in mind is the way it affected one’s worldview (insofar as children can be said to have a worldview).

For example, CP would have been available for use (and indeed was used) when I was at school, between the ages of seven and fourteen. One thing I remember is that CP was always regarded as “personal”, in the sense that it was an individual teacher who not only chose the punishment, but also inflicted it, in a way that (for example) detention isn’t actually inflicted by any particular individual — you just have to turn up. And this was reflected in a teacher’s reputation — “Teacher X gives you the slipper”, for example.

I also seem to remember that this worldview changed as my cohort got older. When I was seven or eight, a teacher hitting a child in a ritual way (“bend over and touch your toes”) was just something that happened if you were naughty, like being scalded if you touched something hot. But by the time we were twelve or thirteen, it was clearly the teacher’s choice to maintain (or attempt to maintain) discipline in this way; questions of intent and fairness became apparent in a way that wouldn’t have happened three or four years previously, and our attitude to individual teachers was inevitably coloured by this.

I wonder whether other contributors have a similar feeling of attitudes to SCP changing as they grew up, particularly in regard to their view of individual teachers?

(Yes, it’s the one and only Alan Turing)

The cane and slipper were an ever present threat when I attended secondary school in the early 60s. It certainly had an influence on our behaviour and in some ways determined the ethos of the school. The  fear of the cane was all pervasive in the early years of secondary school but it was just accepted as an occupational hazard by the older boys. Amazingly we were still subject to corporal punishment in the 6th form ( 4 strokes across the backside for skipping assembly) but by then although somewhat embarrassing  it was little more than an irritant.

bripuk wrote:The cane and slipper were an ever present threat when I attended secondary school in the early 60s. It certainly had an influence on our behaviour and in some ways determined the ethos of the school. The  fear of the cane was all pervasive in the early years of secondary school but it was just accepted as an occupational hazard by the older boys. Amazingly we were still subject to corporal punishment in the 6th form ( 4 strokes across the backside for skipping assembly) but by then although somewhat embarrassing  it was little more than an irritant.

Four strokes across the backside to me was much more than just an irritant. Painful when applied and for a short while afterwards. Then it just left your backside feeling somewhat uncomfortable for the rest of the day. It certainly wasn’t life-threatening. Explaining to your parents why you’d been caned in school could be somewhat hazardous in families too.

Alan Turing, it’s good to see you posting on the forum again.  What an interesting question!

Indeed, my views changed over time.  Early in primary school, which was boys only, I saw my first instance of the slipper being used.  At that tender age, I was somewhat taken aback by the flash of sudden anger, the shouting and the noise of the slipper landing on the backside of a fellow pupil.  However, over the following two or three years, I think we all became accustomed to the procedure, to the extent that I really can’t remember any of the punishments I received. They were over in a few moments and quickly forgotten.

My attitude changed at  my co-educational grammar school.  “Public” SCP only happened in PE lessons and in the early years a very young and aggressive PE master seemed far too keen to exert his authority.  He made such a strong impression that at a fifty year re-union, his name was the first to be mentioned.  His successors were quite different, believing the importance of PE was for its health benefits rather than its technical skill, and had no need to use SCP.

I think we all accepted that the headmaster might cane, usually privately, for serious offences.  Usually, little was said afterwards.  But just occasionally when he was in a bad mood, he would round up a group of noisy boys and cane them together.  We despised him for lashing out in anger on those occasions when an order to be quiet would have sufficed.

Looking back at both my boys only ( except a few staff kids who were girls) prep and then boys only grammar schools at which CP featured in both I agree that it was soon clear that certain teachers made use of CP and others didnt. Teachers were generally respected if they were fair, even if they used CP. I had a form teacher for 2 years aged 12 and 13 who used the slipper, but he was scrupulously fair and clear about what constituted an “offence” which warranted a slippering, so you knew if you crossed that line and got caught there could be no complaints.
Other teachers were not like that and could do CP randomly and thus not liked.
Serious offences were always dealt with by house masters or head/ deputy. I think as younger boys fear was a big factor in behaviour control but as you got older teenage bravado took over and some boys saw CP as an occupational hazard which might result from having some fun! To the rest of us pain and embarrassment of getting CP remained a factor especially if there was a chance of being punished in class rather than in private.

Hello Mr. Turing OBE FRS. It’s good to see you posting again.

I feel that it’s a little like the disciplinary action players face during a football match. If things are getting out of hand and the referee is in danger of losing control, he will often hand out a yellow card to the next player committing a foul even if the offense is not as bad as some that have gone before.  And so it was with certain teachers at my school.  If he or she felt that it was time to stamp their authority on proceedings they would simply punish the next scholar stepping out of line. Such unfair practice often resulted in pupils being spanked or caned severely for some minor transgression. Of course it was the teachers who commanded the respect of the class who did not need to resort to such measures.

wwt did you ever see it happen where someone was unfairly punished a case in point

good question….individual teachers might have given a smack or tap to hands with ruler…that was it till age 12….never knew of anything else…when you got to age 12/13 you knew there was a strap hanging in office, but here only principal/vice could punish not the teachers…which now that you got me looking back you never saw those smacks/warning sin class rooms as you got older, just sent to the office…and very few talked about there trips to the office or what happened…so in that aspect id say my “my worldview” as i got older was more that a more severe punishment could happen. But as the 80’s came in the punishments at my schools ended. So my view changed knowing i could not get cp at school, but in back of mind it could still happen at home even if you were in high school!

iankenrick wrote:wwt did you ever see it happen where someone was unfairly punished a case in point

That depends on what you see as unfair. I remember the maths teacher getting very fed up with an unruly 4th form class. It was last lesson of the day. Sort of warm summer’s day when all we all want to do was to get out after a long day in school. I suspect our maths teacher felt much the same. Finally to settle the class he said if he caught anyone chattering again he’d cane them. The class immediately settled down. We knew in another 15 or 20 minutes the school day would be over.

The class ‘clown’ then made some sort of silly remark and was immediately called to the front. He was bent over the front desk for a firm stroke of the cane across the seat of his trousers. It made me wince, classroom canings were rare in my school. The lad, Clive, was no stranger to the cane but that stroke must have really stung and would have left a mark. As he went back to his desk one of the most sensible brighter lads in the class must have said something. He, too, was called to the front. As far as I knew this boy had never been slippered let alone caned. The maths master really had no choice but to give this second boy a similar stroke of the cane. The cane really swished down and he squealed. I’m sure he’d not have been hit as hard if the class ‘bad lad’ hadn’t had a hard whack. This would have been about 1961 at a Bristol grammar school.