I don't want to post in the other thread, but it made me think people might be interested.

We don't use punishment books any more - we've entered the digital age. Our DTS is currently being updated and the developer has shared screenshots with me that will be in the users manual. The data is fake, concerning non-existent people, but it gives the idea of how it works.

Thank you very much for this, Doctor Dominum. Am I right in assuming that the figures 3 and 6 in the ‘Action’ column refer to the number of strokes given?

What a splendid idea! At present (in the UK at least) very few paper based punishment books survive to see the light of day at the end of the local authority embargo period for public inspection. Putting them on computer should ensure that none of them at all are still around in 20 years time. Even if they haven't fallen victim to disk crashes, archive media deterioration or some other form of physical destruction then data format incompatabilities will ensure that they can no longer be read. Who says 40 years in computers doesn't turn you into a bit of a pessimist!

Yes, the numbers do refer to strokes of the cane - but do bear in mind, once again, this is fake data, not real.

Broadly speaking, the record in question doesn't look too unusual compared to a real one - perhaps a little on the severe side, but not much. But it's not real data.

What - you mean the eight inch floppies in my safe containing important school records from the 1970s are probably useless?

(Of course, I'm aware of that, in reality - I actually took them when we cleared the archives in the late 1990s just so I could show students how big floppies used to be. My current students probably don't know what a floppy disk is.)

We do produce paper records of punishments - the running lists in particular look fairly similar in format to old punishment books - but I'm not sure how long they'd last either. Unlike a lot of our other paper records, the archivist hasn't started insisting on acid free paper and similar, so I don't think anybody much cares either. I don't think there's any conspiracy here, but we don't regard such records as crucial documents with more than short to medium term utility.

Dr Dominum, would you have to harden your heart to cane the fictious Andrew Boyd?

I assume you are referring to his appearance.

It's rarely easy to cane a boy. It's harder to cane a younger boy. It's harder to cane a boy who looks very young. So, yes, it can involve hardening the heart to an extent.

If I believe I'm doing it for the boy's own good - that is, I think he's the type of boy who is likely to benefit from such punishment in the long term, and unlikely to be harmed by it, then it's easier. But that's got virtually nothing to do with appearance. If I'm doing it because of its deterrent effect towards others (rather than primarily for his own sake) or because there's other reasons why it's expected, then it's harder.

The two canings described for 'Andrew Boyd' - well, the caning for skipping detention is the standard, almost mandatory punishment. Unless there's a good reason not to do it, it's expected that it will be done - the boy has had every chance to avoid it, he's chosen not to accept a lesser punishment. Those can be very hard at times. I will avoid it if I think the boy could be harmed by it, but if it's not likely to harm him, I'll do it even if I don't think he's particularly likely to benefit and that's hard at times especially with younger boys.

With the bullying as described - that would make it easier. Bullying is one of the few cases where - I never enjoy caning a boy, but it can sometimes be satisfying on some level to cane a bully. Again, I'll avoid doing it if I think it is likely to be bad for the bully (and it can be - bullying is an odd offence when it comes to how you deal with it - it's very polarised - it either needs to be severely punished, or severe punishment can be the worst possible way to handle it - there's little middle ground) but if I think it's likely to work, it's generally not all that hard to do it. Because that's a case where it is richly deserved, and it's a case where it's likely to help in some way.

The bottom line is - well, many boys look angelic. As a teacher you learn pretty quickly, that even in the most angelic boy can have his demonic moments. The key - learn to like the boy, even if you hate what he's done. And, if you're me - remember some of the unlikeable thing you did as a child yourself, and imagine where you'd be if the men who taught you hadn't decided to try and do their best for you even when you didn't deserve it. And remember how you changed and what it was that changed you.

I was apparently a cute kid - but I was a naughty one, too. Thank God, nobody ever decided that the cuteness was more important than the naughtiness.

Doctor Dominum, sorry, I can't help with your 8 inch floppies. I have a drive, but the computer with the interface to connect to it suffered terminal failure of something vital on the circuit board during a 'wonder if it still works' session a few months ago. 5¼ floppies no problem though, if you've got any of them.

Seriously, there is of course absolutely no educational reason why punishment books, digital or otherwise, should be of long term interest within the school that generates them. There may of course be a legal requirement to preserve them for a statutory period in some jurisdictions, due to possibility of litigation etc.

Leaving aside those requirements they are, in my opinion at least, of historical interest, particularly when school CP has been abolished. Many on this estimable forum who refuse to accept the reality of CP as it was in UK schools are merely wind-up merchants, but some, I think, genuinely cannot believe the severity and frequency of CP as it was used in some schools. Punishment books, though they may sometimes be the 'authorised' or indeed the expurgated version of what took place, do give some credence to the accounts of those who were around at the time.

Sadly, in the UK at least, very few punishment books emerge unscathed into public archives after whatever restricted access period is imposed by the responsible authorities. Rumour has it that most never even made it to the start of the archive process, either because they were considered an interesting souvenier on the abolition of school CP or because someone felt that their content was best destroyed. It is interesting to speculate if researchers in your locality will fare any better with the digital records. I suspect not.

And it's a good thing too, isn't it dear Dr.? If you couldn't rely on the computer you'd soon run out of space to store the great number of volumes of punishment books you'd acquire. I suspect that just you alone, however, will use up many gigabytes of space from all the whacking you claim to do. How proud you must be at the number of boys you've beaten with the cane, huh?

Hmm, you wouldn't be my old friend Eric using yet another pseudonym would you Caned Student? Something very familiar about the style and the language structure!

Has there yet been occasion to require the real boy masquerading as Andrew Boyd to bend over?

To quote the statement I made at the very start of this thread:

The data is fake, concerning non-existent people.

Obviously the photo of 'Andrew Boyd' is a photo of a real boy, but he is not a pupil at my school, and I have absolutely no idea where the developer who put the screen shots together based on his fake test data, obtained that image. So I can't answer your question. I would guess the answer is most likely, 'no', but that's a guess.