I was rather surprised to find the following in a shop this afternoon. Years since I saw one. Most modern children have no idea why this shape was chosen.

You had me worried for a moment there Doctor Dominum, I saw the thread title and thought you'd turned into a fun pester! I'm sure you remember the thread about how those things were used for the administration of corporal punishment in exclusive girls' schools in Scotland and Yorkshire!

For those who don't recall said thread, it is to be found here.

Happily the thread led on to some excellent contributions from non-pester posters, including an item on real school tuck shops from Doctor Dominum. Modesty of course forbids me to mention the Alan Turing/Another_Lurker collaboration to calculate the height of a pork pie tower to be erected in Melton Mowbray UK to enable the inhabitants thereof to have a view of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco USA.

WARNING! If any fun pesters are tempted to resume their accounts of exclusive girls' schools or Scottish boarding houses for young ladies in the above thread, please don't or we'll set Jenny on you! Sorry Jenny!

I don't know of anyone who had the leather strap in their school. It was probably common in Canadian schools from several posts I saw on other forums, and yes, it seems that also girls got it there, since it was usually applied only on the hands. Sorry to disappoint you there Lurker
Does anyone know of any schools where the strap was used? I think it was a favourite with female teachers because it was small and handy for small hands but still delivered the goods.
Oh yes, I think it was also common in Catholic schools in Ireland.

Willy

The strap was very common in Scottish schools until its abolition in the 80s. In fact there must be very few scholars who were not given the tawse, and this includes girls , of that generation.

Sorry to sound thick, but was that licorice " strap" meant to be a tawse or is it just because it looks like one. I had assumed that these licorice tawses were an invention of the fun pesters as I'm sure candy canes were.

Does anyone know of any schools where the strap was used? I think it was a favourite with female teachers because it was small and handy for small hands but still delivered the goods.
Oh yes, I think it was also common in Catholic schools in Ireland.

The strap was the only instrument officially allowed in state schools in Victoria, Australia (where I live) from about 1900 to 1983 (when corporal punishment was abolished from the state system). It was only supposed to be used on the hands, and only on boys. It was also used in the Catholic school system, although they didn't ban its use for girls. So in this state at least, there were hundreds of schools where it was used.

Declan,
The tawse was different than a normal strap because it had several tails or strips at one end, and was only used in Scotland I think, as this article shows




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawse

Hi Declan,

Candy canes are produced in the United States. I'm not quite sure how or why,( although production seems to go into overdrive for Halloween , but they are sugar canes , larger ones often used by small girls ( dreaming of the cheer leading squad?) for twirling and play as well as eating.

I don't know if you seen those really bright multi coloured sugar sweet shops ( there are lots in new England , for example, a very large one on the quay at Rhode Island) ? they are ,I assume a sugar hit and full of e numbers and other heinous chemicals , and when the children's police eventually get to them , I guess they will be outlawed along with other such dangerous substances , like crack cocaine.........,.,

"The strap was the only instrument officially allowed in state schools in Victoria, Australia (where I live) from about 1900 to 1983 (when corporal punishment was abolished from the state system). It was only supposed to be used on the hands, and only on boys. It was also used in the Catholic school system, although they didn't ban its use for girls. So in this state at least, there were hundreds of schools where it was used."

Doctor Dominum, don't you think it was unfair that the strap was only used on boys? This would have been very humiliating for boys in mixed classes and I am sure that many girls would have teased the boys about it knowing that they were immune from it. I have read many posts about this situation on other forums where the girls, now women, admitted that they enjoyed watching the boys getting strapped, or other forms of CP, in front of them in class. Some of them even admitted that sometimes they set up situations themselves to see some boys they didn't like getting strapped or paddled. I think it was a similar situation in many schools everywhere, not just in Australia. In fact in Singapore and Malaysia, where they still have this same situation, a heated discussion is going on at the highest levels whether to bring new laws which will allow girls to be caned like boys for the same misbehaviour in schools.
At least the Catholic schools were more democratic on this issue and made no preferences, even though they had a reputation for being more strict about CP.

Doctor Dominum, don't you think it was unfair that the strap was only used on boys? This would have been very humiliating for boys in mixed classes and I am sure that many girls would have teased the boys about it knowing that they were immune from it.

I recall a handful of girls who teased boys about this - the same handful who tried to set us up so we'd get belted. But it wasn't many girls in my experience.

Do I think it was unfair? I didn't at the time - the girls were genuinely better behaved than the boys for the most part.

I can think of about half a dozen occasions in my primary schooling where I believe a girl should have been strapped. I can think of half a dozen a day where I think a boy should have been (and often were).

I never found it humiliating to be strapped. I hated it. I was sometimes embarassed because I'd misbehaved. But I didn't find the punishment humiliating.

Willy,

you wrote :

The tawse was different than a normal strap because it had several tails or strips at one end, and was only used in Scotland I think, as this article shows


Yes it was , very different indeed. Certainly almost universally used in Scotland ( except in its 'greatest' public schools , but also widely in the North of England (teachers tended to 'migrate' and several l.e.a.'s allowed it by regulation. . My second primary school ( state West Yorkshire ) had a Scottish headmistress, who whilst being somewhat fond of the slipper ( if you couldn't spell or do mental arithmetic') had a special fondness for her tawse. I will post about that separately on an appropriate string.

I was only punished with a strap twice in my life (both on my hands); These are the two times I have really been scared . there is something about hand punishment to me that really ( to quote Dr. Dominium's post ) sends a shiver down my spine.

My significant other taught in Scotland for a period and comes from a family of teachers ; she has a 'large set' of old Lochgelly and 'Glasgow' tawses, with a relatively high commercial value , collected from the family . She has posted elsewhere about the difficulty using the tawse caused her, in particular how to deal with frightened kids, and the moral dilemmas she had to deal with ( ignored by many). Whenever she shows guests this collection, ( and believe me most people hearing of them want to inspect if only out of ghoulishness!) , it brings back memories of that awful sting, which I do not think can be replicated

If you've never seen one in the flesh , let alone in action , I did post some pictues of the redoubtable miss Valerie Thorton doing her stuff on the BBC. For those new to the forum, and for all her fans ancient and modern, I will repost here




I am told by my SO that this is a very good representation, almost as good as herself !!

I saw a post on another forum which said that at their school they used rubber straps. Has anyone ever heard of this?
Incidentally the same poster said that his young female teacher enjoyed strapping the boys with it, which fits perfectly with those photos by Prof.n.
I will try and find the post and repost it here.