From 1961 the prefects discerned a new crime: General Attitude, or GA. In Australian law, a state of mind is not usually in itself an offence, and though Prefects’ Meetings punished boys for GA, they usually spelt out its manifestations in the culprit’s dress (about which rules did exist) or apathy in activities like sport or choir, or lack of respect. In this way the prefects addressed both the behaviour and its meaning. In this way the prefects walked alongside Healey, whose obsession about apparently petty details can be understood as defending not those details but what they stood for.
School Corporal Punishment History57
