Rickie4444 wrote:I have never heard of a head caning prospective prefects so that they would know what it felt like.  Did this happen elsewhere or just in John’s school?

Fact or fiction? I have heard and read much about UK boys schools. I attended a UK boys grammar school from 1958 to 1966 myself. I have never heard of such a thing happening.

Rickie4444: When you use ‘quote’ click under greyed out bit before adding your comments to separate your message from the quote.

Hello six of the best,

I confess I have never heard of such a thing either.  I don’t know what arcane ceremonies prefects at my secondary school had to undergo before they were allowed to cane other boys.  I never got to be one, having got stuck at the next level down of ‘privileged sixth former’, sort of sub-prefects who could put fellow pupils in the prefects’ book for a court appearance and undertake supervisory duties but didn’t get to sentence or cane. However whatever prefects underwent on investiture, I doubt it included being caned.

However we should always bear in mind a pronouncement by this Forum’s greatest ever doubter of unusual or even perfectly normal and commonplace SCP accounts, one Lotta Nonsense.  Some longstanding contributors will now be  trembling at the mere sight of the name!  But even Lotta once admitted that whatever could be envisaged in the field of SCP probably happened to someone at least once at a school somewhere.

We must also remember that john_smage is referring to a Junior School, and further a Junior School with a fairly eccentric Headmaster to judge from John’s message bearing slippering. In some respects Junior school heads were even more master of their own ship than Secondary school heads.  They were dealing with younger, more compliant children and their schools were often a central feature of a small closely knit community with very supportive parents.  John’s account is certainly very unusual, but I’ve seen a lot of accounts here which were far less believable.

A.L.

I didn’t actually say that I disbelieve what was said but I did question it. A headmaster demonstrating caning on a group of prospective junior prefects does seem just a little odd though. I’m not sure their parents would have tolerated this. Caning as a punishment is one thing but a caning to demonstrate its effect is another.

I went to what was then a newly created grammar school, a boys grammar with similar one for girls adjoining. Although close together they had totally separate buildings with their own head teachers. Start/finish times were staggered so less chance of boys and girls meeting. The boys school had a few ‘odd’ teachers. The French teacher held weekly vocab tests with a pass mark of 15 out of 20. Any boy scoring under 15 bent over for one of the slipper for any incorrect answer under 15. A metalwork teacher whacked bottoms with a steel rule. A few older teachers used a cane in class. The headmaster was a quiet reserved sort of man but he still used the cane. Parents generally approved of such punishments provided they were deserved. Of course back then spanking at home was quite common for many boys and girls. Indeed I felt a few spankings at home myself.

I do remember a few occasions of boys playing ‘punishment games’ sometimes as part of another game. I seem to remember a couple of lads saying their game prepared you for what you might get in school. I was quite glad I wasn’t part of their game as they’d cut a bendy stick from a tree!

I do accept that some posts here are fantasy, they can be quite entertaining too. I do, however, try to only relate things I have personal knowledge of or things that I do really believe are true.

Tasting your own medicine

I am firmly of the view that no one should use the cane or strap if they have not been on the receiving end of the implement they propose to use. I am unsure how frequently such receipt should be necessary to maintain the authority to administer. It could be annually or perhaps after every “x” punishments, which ever comes first.

An alternative “calibration” or “excess enthusiasm countering measure” might be to introduce role reversal determined by chance after sentencing using a roulette wheel of similar. Alternatively, and more fun, would be to use such a wheel to decide both the penalty and the recipient.

Hello KK,

What a splendid idea, especially the role reversal and random selection by roulette wheel bit!  I’m sure some of the unfortunate US High School girls whose paddlings are so graphically relayed to us by American Way and roofy9987 would be glad of the chance of a bit of role reversal.  Though I have to say that with some of the, errm, rather overweight High School administrative staff we see pictured the mere thought of them bent over in volleyball shorts might well be sufficient to put even the most revenge bent High School girl off the idea.

Seriously, the idea that school staff should themselves have had experience of being in receipt of the type of corporal punishment they administer has of course been argued here in the past, most often in the context of female teachers lacking such experience.  Personally, and I accept that many disagree, I don’t think this was ever too much of an issue in the UK, where I think that while SCP was used most whackers would themselves have been whacked.  Whether this is an problem elsewhere I have no idea.

In the case at issue here there was clearly absolutely no need for John_smage to be caned prior to becoming a Junior School prefect as he had already been caned and anyway he wasn’t going to cane anybody, or indeed decide that they should be caned.  Those matters rested entirely with the Headmaster no matter how many fellow pupils John smage reported in the course of his prefectorial  duties.

If I had been appointed a prefect at my secondary school there would of course have been an entirely different situation.  In that era it was quite unusual for boys in that type of school not to have been subjected to severe SCP of some sort by the time they reached the sixth form.  However I’d escaped that fate.  I could have been sentencing other boys to the cane or even caning them without any idea of what I was inflicting.  But I’ll bet my fellow prefects would have seen the problem and provided any necessary ‘training’.  It was that sort of school!

Hi Folks,  one thing after being “Punished” by Mr. H it made all the Jnr. prefects think should they they report boys for the cane or slipper, it was mostly the slipper how it happen 1st form got one stroke of the slipper, 2nd formers got two,  3rd got three, 4th My age group would get four I thing we all though then it was fair way to slipper mixed age groups,   the school was a three story building,  the prefects had to stand on the landing and see that pupils kept to the right going up the stairs and keep right going down the stairs and no running on stairs those not obeying the rules were to be reported or taken to get the slipper.   One of the worst offenders were teachers LOL , Jnr prefects were not excempt from getting the slipper or cane in class or playground.

I was offered the cane or 3x1hour detentions when in the lower 6th for skipping assembly with two of my friends. They opted for the detentions but I decided to “Get it over and done with” and got 4 strokes. The head really laid them on and my backside was marked for a week and was sore for more than a day. I was still pleased that I had made the right decision.

Bripuk,

Well done! Sixth-form canings were rare in my day but highly rated for inherent interest.

1. The exchange rate seems rather harsh and likely to discourage others contemplating trading strokes for detention hours. Did you know the exchange rate in advance?
2. What was the attitude of your two friends and classmates to your choice?

Thanks.

Yes the head made it clear that 4 strokes was the option. I had been caned previously earlier in my school career but I think because I was a 6th former he laid it on harder.
They were quite dismissive and thought it was too demeaning at that age to be caned but after they had served a couple of the detentions I felt there was a grudging respect and maybe a little envy that I had got it over and done with.

Indeed the cane for six formers was by no means unknown but it was, compared to younger lads, less common. In many 1950s/60s senior schools the cane was seen as a quick and effective punishment that only effected the lad concerned. I, myself, remember a visit to the deputy head after school one Friday afternoon soon after I was in the lower sixth.

Some lads seemed to accept a caning without a second thought although it must have hurt them as much as anyone else. Many of these were lads who were used to having to bend over at home if they misbehaved. I remember one lad saying of the school cane; “at least it is across the trousers.”