The latter was punitive detention(i.e. polishing classroom brass doorknobs etc.) & that was for misdemeanours. As with you, only serious stuff meant a visit to the Head, including smoking, the one time I got caned.
Would your Form Teacher have dealt with some of that sort of thing, or were teachers using the tawse confined to belting for offences committed under their own tender tutelage, as it were?
And, pardon another question, but am I right in thinking that most of Scotland was enthusiastically belting away virtually right up to Judgement Day in 1987? Or do you think it was dropping off well before then?
I think that the psychological situation of the individual has a lot to do with how punishments are perceived. In my mind there is no doubt that the worst experience I ever had , including six of the best from my Headmaster, was six strokes of a John Dick Tawse given by my primary school Headmistress.