I went to an all boy's English grammar school in the late 50s and early 60s. The attitude to corporal punishment was part and parcel of the very male, macho culture of the school in all sorts of ways.

The slipper was used frequently by prefects and masters. So it was quite common to watch another boy being slippered. From the point of view of a spectator we admired a good thrashing in the same way that men admire a good sporting performance. A strong athletic swing of the arm elicited the same respect as a cricketer hitting a ball for six. The sound of the plimsoll striking trousers stretched over a boy's bottom was enjoyed all the more for its loudness and crispness. We gave little thought for the feelings of the poor wretch on the receiving end of the slippering. We just admired and silently applauded the athletic performance of the one wielding the plimsoll. The masters and prefects who slippered the hardest were spoken of in the same ways as heroes of the sports field.

On the other hand when it inevitably came your turn to be slippered you also wanted to show your bravery and toughness in front of the other boys. "Take it like a man". So you never complained or whined when the master or prefect singled you out for punishment. You silently took his scolding and then instantly obeyed when told to bend over. You stretched over and touched your toes and stayed as still as a statue. Boys who couldn't or wouldn't bend all the way over or flinched or whined were despised. You stayed absolutely still at each whack of the plimsoll on your backside. Then when it was over you stood up and carried on with your day as if nothing as happened. No rubbing. Definitely no crying. If you talked about it at all you might tell a friend afterwards that "he really laid it on hard" showing respect for the dominant male that had made you submit to pain and punishment.

At the time it all seemed to be part of learning how men were supposed to behave. Though 45 years later attitudes are so different and we don't at all respect men who inflict pain on little boys.

Does any of this strike a chord with men who went to schools like mine? Or were you reactions different from mine?

I went to a mixed Sec. Mod. school and getting whacked was fair game.
One took it like a man and no way did one blub or whine.
Most of the time it was a token ( but bl**dy hard) whack with the slipper.
Lots of times it was infront of girls.
Usually it was given in such a way as to hurt but not to make one cry.
Just shows that the lower orders had as much backbone as the posh lads at Grama school.

Dave,

I was in high school in the early 1960's and the paddle was used by the P.E. teacher fairly regularly in P.E. class that at the time was all boys. While the "taking it like a man" thing seemed operational more becuase you didn't want to appear a wimp in front of your classmates, there was none of this bonding stuff that seems to be so prevelent in the English school system. We took our whacks but didn't like it, didn't like the teacher and freqently plotted revenge if we could.

This tribal kinship growing to manhood thing and the showing of stripes and bragging about receiving CP which seems to come across when Brits and Aussies talk about their CP experiences, didn't happen, at least not in my school. It mostly angered the recipients and didn't have much impact on behavior---except that we were more careful not to get caught at our mischief which sometimes took the form of hiding the jerk's paddle or other of his teaching supplies in retribution. Air was also let out of all four tires of his automobile more than once too.

Interesting. How were the feelings of spectators and the boy being punished different when girls were in the class. Did the girls enjoy seeing a good whacking in the same way we boys did? Was it even more important to "take it like a man" whem females were watching?

Halliwell,
From your mention of the paddle do I assume your experience was in the USA? If so, I'm quite surprised at the level of hostility you describe between students and teachers. I have seen, on the web and elsewhere, a lot of American accounts in which paddle-wielding teachers are remembered with great fondness, and they can't all be fantasy.

Alaric said:

From your mention of the paddle do I assume your experience was in the USA?
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Yes, I am in the USA.
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Alaric said:

If so, I'm quite surprised at the level of hostility you describe between students and teachers. I have seen, on the web and elsewhere, a lot of American accounts in which paddle-wielding teachers are remembered with great fondness, and they can't be all fantasy.
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First, I was describing a high level of hostility between students and one particular teacher. I am not sure if the level of hostility would have been as great if the paddle had been swung less frequently by a person who earned more respect otherwise.

This was a P.E. teacher who hung aroung the boys' locker room before and after class "monitoring" changing and showers and who smacked bare asses as frequently as he could invent a reason for doing so. He got away with it 4 decades ago. I doubt his behavior would go unnoticed or unreported today.

That said, I would ask where you have been reading on the web to come to the conclusions about this great fondness? I would suspect that for some there is a great fondness for the paddle just as among the British and Australian there is, among some people, a great nostalgic fondness for the cane.

I would also suspect that a fair number of those with great fondness for the paddle have a fetishistic interst in its use and the fondness is so related. When I felt the paddle in high school, it hurt but there was also a great fondness for the resultant heat and sting and the subsequent erotic response when thinking about it afterwards. Such a response tends to cloud your more rationale feelings about the reality of CP. Fetish aside, I loathed the teacher and found him inept and barbaric and would have like to have broken the paddle by smacking him on the head. And I am sure a number of my classrmates would have willingly helped.

Probably a good guestion to ask is how many people are there really who spend time on the web discussing the benefits and joys of a good paddling who don't have an erotic interest in the subject? Go to some of the anti-paddling websites that represent organizations dedicated to the elimination of paddling in public schools in the USA and you will find very different points of view and descriptions where paddling is far from remembered with great fondness.