I was never a big fan of the cane, but I was also never a big fan of letting the girls off with detentions and other menial jobs, vice a good thrashing. I don't think three strokes of the cane would have killed them. At least a paddling. LOL

What a fantastic piece, Fiona. This was indeed a story within itself, and very well presented.

B

Articles like this show how much the spanking fiction is influenced by reality. Great and interesting read.

At my all boys school I can only recall one public caning. They were usually done in private in the housemaster's or headmaster's study.

This one was the punishment of three alleged bullies. One I thought was innocent, another was just an idiot, and the third was definitely a bully. Nevertheless, if this was intended to show the evils of boys picking on others weaker than themselves, what sort of message did it convey by a large and powerful adult viciously caning three teenagers who had no means of fighting back? I leave that to the philosophers.

Oh - and sorry - it was a really well written and atmospheric article.

I went to a London secondary modern school when first in London and later moved into one of the first comprehensive schools. Discipline in both was fierce and the cane was used often but the tough boys that made up the school (no girls!) were kept firmly in order and I am not sure whether that was bad or not. When I see how some kids speak to adults today I wonder if using a cane is really abuse at all. Junior school was mixed though and I still burn with indignation that we boys were caned on the hand but girls never were no matter how much they may have sinned! I did see a girl spanked once which was a huge shock but caned ...never. An excellent article.

I do not know why the girls are let off, I found some girls felt cheated being treated that way. Great depiction, well done.

I've written before on the subject of caning and its abuses or not as the case may be. I too witnessed the full ritual of a public caning, more than once, and the impression left on me and for evermore is one of personal abuse. If you must use the cane then for heaven's sake let it be done in private with every precaution to be out of earshot. We used to hover at the end of the corridor when we knew a caning was in the offing and count the strokes like little ghouls.
Can't answer for the girls as I was sent to an all male establishment. An interesting article.

These are exciting recollections, wonderfully written. I have never been able to understand why girls were treated differently. I know at least once one of my daughters has been spanked at school.

I attended Comprehensive school in the 70's and I know girls were definitely caned. It was on the hand, of course and I even saw one girl, about 16 I suppose, enter a room with a Senior Mistress and emerge a little while later holding her hand in her armpit. I did hear some girls say they wished they could be walloped on the bottom 'I've got more padding there' being the reason apparently and in my junior school I saw one girl spanked on her panties by a strict teacher, but I suppose generally girls received their just desserts.....and we can only guess about how they were dealt with at home after a school caning on the hand.

"I've got more padding there." True, a cane is a vicious implement and I've always believed caning on the hand was dangerous. The well-padded region was safer.

As to Patxi's comment, it used to be said (probably apophrycally) that the difference between State and Public (i.e. private) schools was that in the State sector you were caned on your hands, but in the private sector you were caned on your bottom. As far as I know this applied to boys and girls equally as far as hands were concerned, but I have to admit that I never heard of girls being caned on their bottoms.

Has any LSF ex-schoolgirl had any experience of the latter?

Your article was riveting. I enjoy reading stories of the school experiences of others. Until your story I wondered if public punishments her in the library was overdone drama. I was uncomfortable the innocent guy was caned. He was a victim of bullying then punished and a victim again. Shame on that headmaster- he was a bully.

In my catholic elementary school Grades 1-8, girls were paddled, had their hands spanked- which we now know was very dangerous and could cause permanent nerve damage. No one was ever caned. The paddle was pretty hefty, though. In my all girl catholic high school there was no paddling; there was plenty in the boys high school. In my high school, pregnancy was common (25% of my class withdrew before graduating- most pregnant) and the conventional wisdom was paddling a pregnant girl might cause a miscarriage.I do not know if that was a diocese regulation or just the Principal's call.

As a teacher, I do not believe paddling another person's child is my responsibility. Stopping instruction to paddle is disruptive and breeds an atmosphere of threat and fear. It is almost impossible to learn from a teacher if you do not feel safe in her/his classroom. I always noted when Sister was having a bad day, it did not take much mischief before she pulled out the paddle or ruler or the long thin birch pointer.
IC

I think it's fairly easy to understand why girls weren't caned on their bottoms within earshot of boys, and also in those days there were many more attitudes based on the assumption that men were the leaders and risk-takers while women were fragile and needed protection (and unequal courtesies like being given a seat on a bus).

Mr Goddard doesn't sound a bad sort but Mr Bailey sounds like a real sadist. Unfortunately positions of power do attract a number of people like that.

Phew! This is a riveting account - thank you. Your description conveyed the curiosity and feelings associated with the whole situation very evocatively. That you knew some of the participants made it all the more gripping. I was glued!

It sounds as if being made to wait on the other side of the stage while the boys were caned was deliberately intended as part of the girls' punishment - not just the humiliation, but the not knowing if something similar awaited them.

I dare say shopkeepers the length and breadth of Belgium would have applauded.

There is an old adage. "What is good for the goose. is good for the gander. This being said.. If I had been headmaster, I would have changed two things. First both boys, and girls deserved to be corporal punished for stealing. Since this was to be a caning. the two girls, should also have been so punished. Plus the fact, that the crime was a serious one, it should have been held in public. Where as the whole school should have been a witness. Yes, for the boys, trousers, and shorts, down,. For the girls, skirts up, and panties down. And the pliable stinging cane, descend upon each naked rear end.. Of course 'six of the best' strokes would have been perfect. Shame and humiliation, would be the reason for such a scene to have taken place.

This brought back memories for me. I was part of a group who got caned in front of the whole school assembly for slamming our hymn books. The deputy Headmistress was furious and caned us all including the girls. Unlike your school, girls in my old Grammar School got the same treatment as us boys, the cane on the bottom over their tight grey skirts. I also remember the walk of shame before and afterwards.

I found it disappointing that the girls got a different punishment but I know this happened a lot.

A very realistic walk down memory lane thanks.

A very memorable event, grippingly recounted. The punishment seems to have been a curious mix of sadistic pleasure by the staff coupled with a degree of sensitivity to spare the miscreants. Being made to wait 10 days to learn their fate, and for the girls to have to wait while the boys were caned not knowing if they were to get the same, was a cruel form of mental torture. Yet, whilst in fiction all six might be caned on their bare bottoms in front of the entire school, the canings took place behind a curtain on the boys' presumably trousered behinds, providing a degree of propriety. I was pleased that the bully got the 'brown' cane. Whilst not generally in favour of school CP, there are situations where I believe it might serve a useful purpose.

Excellent account that brought back memories. I felt sorry for the girls. I never understood why girls were not caned in some schools. They certainly were in my old school but usually in private. Most seemed to prefer the cane over a detention on Saturday morning.