Thanks everyone who helped me with my project, I got an (A) for it.

Still would like to discuss the subject with anyone who will chat with me.

Simon

Now you will return the favour and share it with us, will you not? No doubt we're all dying to find out what passes for an 'A' paper at school these days.

Yes ok I might post some extracts from my essay.

Here you go Steff, this is an extract from my essay, its not the finished one as the disk with that on also had some I.T. work on it which is still being marked. This is an early version, the finished version has a section on whether corporal punishment works and whether it should be brought back, it also a conclusion and a few examples of C.P. memories from posts on Friends Reunited and the two spanking sites.

Anyway Here it is, well the first part...



In this essay I am going to describe and discuss the use of corporal punishment in schools in past decades. Corporal punishment in state schools was abolished in 1987 but had been being used less and less before that time for about a ten years. Corporal punishment had been in use since schools began, a good example is in Victorian schools where pupils could be whipped with birch rods which could even cause bleeding to the skin. This punishment required the pupils trousers or skirt to be removed and underwear to be taken down as it was only effective on bare skin. With the colonisation's of the British Empire to the far east bamboo canes were seen being used. Canes became a popular implement in British schools throughout the 1900's until 1998 when the last private school canings were banned for ever. The cane was popular as modern senses of modesty were troubled by the baring of skin, required for birching, and the bamboo cane could be used as effectively through underwear or even trousers or skirts. Most corporal punishment in schools was inflicted on boys, mostly because boys were in trouble more and partly as left over senses of chivalry meant teachers and headmasters/mistresses felt uneasy about hitting girls.

Some punishment implements were very gender specific, for example the cane was usually reserved for boys and only then as a last resort, it was usually given as six hard whacks to the bottom or hand called six of the best. The slipper was a punishment often used for girls, The slipper was usually either an old gymshoe or an old carpet slipper which the headmaster or mistress or other teacher would smack across the bottoms of pupils with the pupil usually bent over a desk or touching their toes. The slipper would often only be given as four or five whollops and was not seen as a very harsh punishment. The slipper tended not to leave long lasting marks unlike the cane, which is why it was often given to girls. The strap was another punishment often only given to boys and was a thick leather strap or doubled over belt which would be whacked across a pupils bottom or hands sometimes said to be worse than the cane. Often girls would only be strapped on the hands and boys on the bottoms. Some schools were quite modern in their approach and didn't use corporal punishment and some others only used it on boys, but most felt it was a normal part of school life. Primary school also often used Corporal Punishment although the punishments there tended to be less harsh, boys and girls who misbehaved were often just sent to the headmaster to be smacked. Smacking often called spanking in America was usually only done by the headmaster/mistress as the headmaster/mistress took on the role of parent at Primary school to a greater degree than at Secondary school. The pupil would be made to bend over the headmaster's/mistress's knee and he would smack the pupils bottom with his or her hand. The slipper was often used at Primary school and often took the place of smackings when the pupil was over eight or nine although often girls were smacked instead of the slipper as they found it more painful. Some secondary school also used smacking as a form of punishment mostly for girls, although most felt that harsher punishments were required after eleven years old and used the slipper or strap instead.

Punishments had to be written into a punishment book, but as only the cane and strap were considered proper forms of corporal punishment, often punishments for instance Smacking, Slippering and other less formal were not written down. These punishments were considered more a way of controlling the class than real corporal punishment this makes it difficult to find evidence for such punishments. Some of the less formal punishments are slippering as mentioned already and Smacking also mentioned, also Rulering, a teacher would use a Ruler to hit a pupils bottom or hands, this was often a 12 inch ruler but sometimes a meter stick was used. The belt, often the teachers own belt which he or she would take off and double over before smacking the bottom of the offending girl or boy with it. These less formal punishments were often very individual to the teacher dishing it out, and as they unlike the cane and strap were not written up in punishment books and checked by inspectors, these punishments weren’t regulated and so were often done in a vindictive or abusive manner. To get a real indication of school life you would need to talk to people who attended school at the time as the less regulated punishments were nor written up in Punishment books. Only people with first hand experience can tell you what their teachers did, for example I spoke to a few teachers at this school and found one teacher Mrs Lawson who remembers being slippered by the Headmaster when attending this school in 1975, she told me that the opinion of herself and many of the other girls was that slippering girls was unfair as girls were not allowed to wear trousers and as the fashion for girls was to wear very short skirts the slipperings were very painful and humiliating. The girls then wore very short skirts which didn't cover up enough to protect the skin from the slipper or according to Mrs Lawson they didn't cover enough to stop your knickers being seen by the teacher or Headmaster or anyone walking past the headmasters office at the time, as he often didn't close the door when chastising a pupil. Another member of staff who remembers Corporal Punishment is Mr Lavender who told me about the many times he got the cane when at a private school. Another good source for finding out how school really was back then is the by looking at the web site Friends Reunited which has many memories of school slipperings ,canings and smackings etc. This site also lets you see how former pupils really felt about their teachers. I have included some interesting post from friends reunited later in this essay. Some teachers from the 60's and 70's have recently had media attention and have been arrested for the abusive punishment regimes they inflicted in their teaching days. Some old headmasters have been taken to court for smacking female pupils at Secondary school in a way only thought appropriate at the time for Primary schools i.e. smacked over the headmasters knee Some of these girls were fourteen or fifteen and so it was very inappropriate. These abusive Headmasters often removed the girls knickers and tights, (although many girls wore stockings at the time) and pulled up their skirts before smacking them, meaning that the girls were smacked on their bare bottoms. Sexual abuse often followed these chastisements. This kind of sexual abuse only seems to have happened to Female pupils by male teachers but many male teachers abused male pupils by very extreme beatings and by cruel methods for instance in Boys Private Schools older pupils were allowed to beat younger pupils making the punishments even more humiliating, also canings were often longer for example eight or 10 strokes and often on the bare bottom. Another punishment used in boys public schools was the cricket bat which the Headmaster would whack across disobedient boys backsides, however this would probably not have been recorded as the school officials would probably not have approved.

Simon,

You say "This is an extract from my essay, its not the finished one as the disk with that on also had some I.T. work on it which is still being marked."

It certainly has the makings of a mini-masterpiece but I don't understand how your finished essay could be on a disk yet not be on your hard drive. Can you explain?

Hi, it's quite complicated, the computer I use at home is my dads work computer, basicly he dosn't like me saving things on his hard disk as there have been a few incidents involving viruses in the past, caused by me I'm afraid. So now basicly I have a few disks which I copy every thing on to, I have to delete anything of his machine before he uses the computer. The disk with the finished work on it has all my finished peices of work on, But the disk I got this earlier copy from unfortunatly dosn't have the revised version on it as it only has early versions of projects on it.

The big difference is the missing section of the essay concerning the pro's and con's of C.P. and also my examples of C.P. from variouse sites including this one and Friends reunited. Also the grammer is corrected and the sentaences reorganised to make more sence and of corse the spellings are all double checked but basicly this is it.

Anyway hope you thought it was good, the teachers did.

Simon,

I'm not an expert on computer viruses but I know a man who is and I've got good news for you and your dad.

It seems there is no way a computer can become infected by a virus simply by saving a document to the hard drive.

No doubt life will now be a lot easier for you - and your dad will now enjoy restful nights secure in the knowledge that his son's education is expanding at no risk to his computer.

Also, I'm delighted to hear that before submitting the final draft "the grammer is corrected and the sentaences reorganised to make more sence and of corse the spellings are all double checked".

You are very wise to attend to such details, although my computer friend assures me there's no need to double check your spellings as a spellchecker will give the same results on the second check as it did on the first.

There, another helpful hint for you!

I look forward to reading the full version of your essay.

It was just a figure of speach I don't really do double checks, I don't think I had checked that copy at all yet for spelling or grammer, as you can probably see. Yes I know I make spelling mistakes but they are usually caused by typing to quickly and not by being unable to spell, thank you very much.

These are the sources I added to the end of my essay, I think all were from the internet, I found so many that I had a couple of pages full of them, great primary evidence. No body else did this but the teachers loved it as it adds real people's thoughts and feelings to the project.


Memories of corporal punishment from Friends Reunited


Friends reunited
1975 - Colin West Added by Fiona Brown
I had peppar thrown in my eyes by a couple of girls. Colin West brought them to 'matrons' room and then 'spanked' them in front of me. My aunt sent me a newspaper klipping a while after that about him


These pupils were smacked on the bottom with a slipper

Cockburn High, Leeds

Rebecca Spark - 1956
Mr Les Williams - PT Teacher who played at centre for Hunslet RLFC at Parkside. Anyone remember the trek back to school from Joseph Street Baths. On one occasion after being late back a large number of us were banned from swimming the following week but still had to attend the baths. Because we ran back to school we were all given "the slipper". I should imagine that his arm ached after dealing with so many pupils

These girls also got the slipper

Marlborough Girls, London

Doris Jean Pearce
Does anyone remember Mr Osalberry? Went up three stairs and down one. Everybody used to walk behind him doing the same. Mr Major, liked to give the slipper to the girls. Used to say bend over the desk and then slippered us, well some of us, well usually me.

This girl got a soundly smacked bum with the slipper
Meadway, Reading

Shirley Hall - 1974
Mr Downs, Science Teacher - At least 7ft tall, Joe 90 specs and size 12 feet of which he kept a size 12 plimsole in his desk drawer for disciplinary measures. I once tossed it out of the upstairs window in the science dept whilst he was out of the room - as I was one of its recipients - someone grassed on me and he made me fetch it and then whacked my backside with it six times....ouch - the memory.

This girl got the strap, usually a long peice of thick leather, sometimes a belt, which was usually smacked across the bottom.

New Moston County, Manchester

Lynda Birks - 1962
Class of 62 - Does anyone remember Carol Seddon or the letch of the year who was Bill Ramsley? I can`t say that my memories of New Moston Secondary were happy ones - the teachers were all bullies especially the RE teacher Miss Young, and I spent most of my time in the corridor or in the Head`s office getting the strap!

This girl was caned by the headmaster, probably six of the best across the bottom or hand.

Sturry, Canterbury

Jane Holness - 1971
Mr Davis - Headmaster. A very firm but fair man. Well respected and liked most of the time. The day I had the cane for smoking on the school bus I didn`t feel quite the same about him!


This teacher used the slipper

Sherrly Ellis - 1980
*Mr Borlam - The history teacher used the "pump" system. Would put your over the desk and ask "is there any reason I cannot pump you today" Then he promptly whacked the trainer against your bottom. He was a great teacher, and I gave him a lot of abuse. He deserved a medal!!

Ruth Young - 1981
*Maths - Mr Bonnebaigt....never had any control of his classes, it was brill. One time he told us all to shut up & Pele put a drawing pin on my chair. I went ouch & he sent me to Turner for 6 of the best.
Thanks Mr Bonnebaigt!


Bridgewater, Manchester

Dawn Lonergan - 1979
*Mr Rudge - The headmaster who most resembled Professor Yaffel from Bagpuss, the gaunt Mr Rudge left Bridgewater around 1980'ish. Taught us a wide range of subjects, from what I can remember, however I best remember him for his obsession with the novel The Silver Chair, his cane (ooer missus!) and the phrase 'time is of the essence!' I spent many a terrifying hour being spanked in his office!
This was from a primary school on friends reunited

1964 - In Trouble . . . . . . . .Added by Maureen Joyce

Does anyone remember Mrs. Crafter? I was milk monitor when a boy (can't remember his name) starting pushing me off end of double seat on to the floor and I got into trouble. Protested and got thrown out of class, slammed the door and a boy called Steven (can't remember last name) was sent to show me how to shut properly several times but I would not so Mrs. Crafter called me in and put me across her knee and hit me with a slipper - still slammed the door because all was unfair".


Some hart felt memories from a corporal punishment forum on the internet

In the 70’s 16 year old Angela was made to bend over the headmasters knee and received a smacked bum for smoking illegal drugs at the school. It was unusual as girls and boys usually stopped being punished this was at primary school.

I went to mixed secondary school in Cheshire England in the seventies. When I was in the fifth year we had a new Headmaster transferred to our school his name was Mr. Benson
and he had previously been headmaster of an all boys public school in London, he was really scary and old and often caned the boys, but never caned girls in fact I was the first girl to be sent to him. About two months after he had become Headmaster my brothers best friend who I really fancied and was a guitarist in a rock band gave me a cannabis cigarette. I smoked the cigarette on my own (none of my friend would dare) at the back of the school and got really high and it was really nice unfortunately I then got caught by Mrs. Wilson who sent me to the Headmaster to be punished.
I was really scared and felt really dizzy from the dope. Mr. Benson had never had to discipline girls before and was really cross, and it was obvious he had no idea what to do with me after really bollocking me, he thought for a long time about what to do with me, I was already crying my eyes out from being shouted at. Mr. Benson then told me that as he didn’t believe in caning girls he would have to smack my bottom, just like he used to with the six year old junior boys that were sent to him at his old school. I was absolutely horrified at his decision, he then told me to kneel down and bend across his knee I was really frightened I couldn’t believe this was happening I was sixteen years old and girls were not supposed to be eligible for corporal punishment at my school, although being new and from a boys school he probably didn’t realise this. After much protest and crying I did as I was told and bent across him I was really embarrassed and I was certain my pleated skirt was to short to cover me up, and my bottom was practically in his face. It was definitely the most embarrassing moment of my life I had never even been smacked by my parents before and certainly never at school and especially not by a man and at sixteen I was practically an adult woman it was really surreal especially as I was so stoned at the time. Anyway Mr. Benson then started to slap my bum really hard, I was so humiliated my face was probably as red as my bottom, he smacked me before giving another telling off and sending me to my next lesson.
Am I the only girl who had her bum smacked at secondary school?


These girls were also given smacked bottoms at school.

‘The older girl told me that she had attended a mixed secondary school at Forest Gate in East London .She said the Headmaster was "an evil old bastard" who would give the cane at any excuse .In her case she got the cane a number of times, on her pants with her skirt up .As she put it "He only had to see me look at a boy and it was off to his office"
The crux of this post is that she also said that for trivial offences eg running in corridor, instead of caning the girls and entering details in the book he would put the girls over his lap ,take their pants down and spank them.Even after 15-20 years she was still outraged at this and told me that she thought it was disgusting that big girls of 15-16 were spanked on the bare. Strangely she accepted the cane because to her knowledge every school in the area kept a cane but no where else spanked ,also this never happened to the boys.’


This sixth form girl was spanked with the slipper in front of a class first years.

at school was when in the first year when we had our headmaster Mr. Smith for English lessons on a Monday it was 1969, a sixth form girl was sent to see Mr. Smith, she was dressed in long hippie clothes long braided hair, long flowing dress etc.....I remember She was a really beautiful looking girl. Anyway we could hear him giving her a good telling off in the corridor for some offence or other then completely unexpectedly he dragged her into the classroom by her upper arm and told her to bend over the desk at the front of the class, it must have been very humiliating for her in front of a whole class full of first years many of which of coarse many like me were boys, then Mr. Smith came back from the store room with an old slipper and soundly spanked her bottom with it. She must have been given about eight very hard whollop’s with the slipper she was then told to stand up and tern around and face the class, her face was bright red and damp with tears and Mr. Smith told her she had to stand there looking at the class for the rest of the lesson which was at least half an hour. The whole class had been completely stunned by this display and us boys were all I think were all very much aroused by it I know I certainly was and couldn’t do much work for the rest of that lesson, in fact and I basically just watching her for the rest of the lesson as she sobbed and bit her lip and made the occasional gasp, I remember watching her rub her bottom a couple of times and getting told to take her hands off her bum.



Newspaper articles about incidents of corporal punishment

This headmaster got in trouble for smacking older girls bare bottoms like they were at primary school.

School Head--Second Trial
We reported last month that Colin West, Headmaster of the Lower School. St. Aiden's, Carlisle, would be retried on charges of indecently assaulting girl pupils. The Crown alleged that Mr. West spanked girls, ages 11 to 14, on the bare buttocks with a shoe and then rubbed their buttocks with antiseptic cream. It had been alleged that most of the beatings had been inflicted in the girls' homes which Mr. West visited with his "punishment kit" consisting of the shoe and a tube of antiseptic cream carried in a cardboard box. Mr. West denied the charges, stating that he spanked the girls with a training shoe on top of their nightwear and had not applied antiseptic cream.
The court heard that in March 1982, two girls were called to West's office because they were not wearing full uniform. West told one to go back to class but detained the other. She told the court the following:
"He dragged me into his office and slammed his door behind him and said, 'I'm going to teach you a lesson.' Then he slapped me across the face. I started crying. He pushed me by the throat and I fell back against the bookcase. He pulled me by the arm and pulled me over his knee. He was kneeling on the floor. He pulled my skirt up and hit me about twice. Then he pulled my knickers down. He hit me across my bare bottom. He kept hitting me until I said I'm telling my mum and dad about you. He put his hands on my shoulders and said, 'I love you more than any other kid in this school. You need not tell your mum what happened.'"


Another Headmaster in trouble for spanking schoolgirls bare bottoms in the throughout the 60’s and 70’s


LONDON: A spanking headmaster, who fondled the buttocks of his young charges while administering traditional British discipline, has eluded prison on the basis of commendatory letters from his former pupils, including Sophie Countess of Wessex.
A judge on Thursday released Robin Peverett, 66, former headmaster of the elite Dulwich College preparatory school south of London, with an 18-month suspended sentence after he admitted stroking and smacking the bare bottoms of nine of his pupils, aged nine to 13.
Peverett was charged after one of his former pupils told her husband of her experiences while watching the wedding last year of the Countess, then Sophie Rhys-Jones, to Prince Edward.
The woman's husband persuaded her to go to the police, and other former pupils then came forward to give evidence against Peverett, who taught at the school from 1960 to 1990 and was headmaster for his last 20 years.
The incidents took place between 1969 and 1977, when Sophie Rhys-Jones was at the school, which charges fees of 7,000 pounds sterling ($11,000) a year. It was stressed she had nothing to do with the case.
Among the nine counts Peverett, who received the Order of the British empire in 1995, admitted spanking a boy for fluffing his lines in a school production of Twelfth Night and smacking a girl to ``help'' her learn Latin.
The prosecutor said Peverett had ordered the original plaintiff into his study, put her over his knee, pulled up her skirt and removed her knickers before smacking and rubbing her buttocks.


Another Headmaster in trouble for smacking girls bums in the past.


School Head gets 18 months for spanking girl pupils
By Paul Stokes
A HEADMASTER who performed secret spankings on girl pupils for over 20 years was jailed for 18 months yesterday.
Kenneth Watson, 46, was allowed to continue working despite an official warning about his behaviour and carried out a further two attacks, Carlisle Crown Court was told.
A diocesan adviser visited the Roman Catholic primary school, where Watson also served as a child protection officer, after accusations by a pupil. Watson claimed to be stunned by the allegation that he had indecently smacked the girl and the matter was not pursued, but he was warned about the possibility of dismissal if there were further incidents.
He was arrested four months later, in February this year, after committing two further offences. As a result of publicity, 25 former pupils whose ages spanned three decades were to come forward and make allegations against him.
Watson, of Washington, Tyne and Wear, who is married with two children, admitted 11 specimen charges of indecent assault on girls aged nine to 15 at three schools in South Tyneside where he worked from the 1970s. A further four counts of similar offences involving boys were denied and allowed to remain on the file.
Paddy Cosgrove, QC, for Watson, said: "One worrying aspect is that if the diocesan adviser who went to see him in Oct 1995 remembers the incident as he says, then surely he and the local education authority were derelict in their duty by not taking this further."
"This was a gross breach of trust. You were headmaster and had the whole responsibility for the little community of your school."
Carlisle Crown Court was told that Watson gained no sexual gratification from what he did, but this was refuted by his victims. One told how she was made to wear a red gymslip when he smacked her and the garment was found by police when they searched his office. Others were spanked when he lifted up their skirts while alone in classrooms with him. Their "punishment" had been marked inside an exercise book.
On three occasions he pulled down girls' knickers and hit them on their bare buttocks. Psychiatrists said his problems were rooted in his childhood and Watson spoke of the incidents giving him "a cosy kind of feeling".
Judge Alastair Bell told Watson: "This was a gross breach of trust. You were headmaster and had the whole responsibility for the little community of your school."


In interesting article about the caning of girls in schools in the 70’s

Daily Mirror, London, 18 October 1978
Gymslip caning shocker
By Charles Lyte
GIRLS are regularly caned at some secondary schools, a shock report revealed yesterday. At one Church school in London there is an average of one girl caned every day.
Twenty-six girls at the school were caned three or more times last year, according to a survey by the Inner London Education Authority.

Let me congratulate you, Simon Jr, for finding such a representative sample of pupils at school prior to c.1986! I think I'm beginning to see why your teacher shares our enthusiasm for your report. With such academic abilities I see you finding yourself with a fine career ahead of you doing research for the PM's office, assuming of course that Labour remains in power in perpetuity.