Confessions of an Old Teacher3

I don’t suppose I caned more than a handful of pupils each year, perhaps a dozen at the outside in the very worst year. ( I remember in that particular year there was a group of five girls caught for shoplifting in school uniform, they all got six of the best. That acted as a real deterrent and it was many months before another caning needed to be handed out). I was the most active caner in the school. Two of my colleagues were not keen on the idea, ( one often substituted a gym slipper for the younger girls), and the Headmistress never caned although allowed to do so. So most miscreants were passed to me. I would only cane ‘in extremis’ and if a girl was unfortunate enough to find herself in that position she could expect a severe punishment. I rarely gave less than the six maximum, and I was of the opinion that unless a girl was in tears or clear distress by the end of the caning, it had not served its function.