In the fourth form I got the three stroke caning for not doing my math homework for the second time in a week, and was told it would be more the next time. That made me do math homework, but I was never good at math (still aren’t). The four stroke caning was for using the “F” word. A friend and I were heard telling each other to “F off” during lunch break. We bothe got it as we were overheard by the teacher on playground duty. We were told to report to the teacher’s staffroom at the end of the lunch period and once there were told that we were going to get four of the best. Both of us had tears in our eyes when it was over and neither of us were caned again.
That taught me that the cane used properly was to be feared. It was a lesson well learnt.