Abolishing physical punishment – the end of civilisation!

That what seemed like back in 1990 when caning and strapping was abolished in our schools - if you read letters to the editor. Our school system would go to the dogs, students (aka pupils) would run riot; crime rates would rise. Yet today, few teachers would advocate a return to those days. I was strapped for the first time when I was about 7 years: out to the front of the class, arm outstretched and hand straight. Down came the heavy leather strap, then the long walk back to one’s desk, face minutely scrutinised by other students for any sign of ‘weakness’. Later I was caned in the third through fifth forms at high school: off to the teacher’s room; bend over, the whistle of the long rod, the thud and the fiercely stinging pain. Again one must appear staunch before the other students. But there was a difference with the cane: it inflicted a heavy, clearly delineated bruise to the buttocks. In short, there was clear evidence of a significant assault. Did we learn anything? Yes, as the researchers have found, we learnt short term compliance, the value of power, and that it was better to be the bully than the victim. I was a fractious little twerp in third form maths and never did my homework. In the first week of fourth form maths, Harry Craig severely caned me. I did my homework for the rest of the year and even got near the top of the class at the end of the year. Thereafter my behaviour in maths classes and my maths results deteriorated again and I even failed Maths I at university. On the other hand, Bob Twaddle ran a pretty lax English class and was a soft touch with the cane. From him I gained an inestimably valuable love of English and its literature and did usefully at the subject at university. So much for the teaching value of inflicted pain.