In our days (early 1960s) corporal punishment in schools was very common. Most of the teachers used the cane as the instrument of punishment.
I attended one of the strictest schools of London. Obviously, one rule of the school was that every pupils should arrive on time. While I was usually very good academically, I was occasionally late for school and I almost received about 10 punishments for this.
Until the ‘ninth standard’ class, punishments were administered by our physical training teacher, Mrs Julie. However, when I was in 10th standard she retired and a new teacher, Mrs Anderson, was recruited.
Mrs Anderson was tall and well built, and frequently carried a belt or a cane in her hand. On the very first day of her job, I got into school late and she appeared in no time with a belt in her hand. I was terrified to see her giant figure.
On that day, I was the only student to come late, so she lectured me for 10 minutes and then told me to kneel down in front of the school until the lunch break – this was horrible as the surface was tarmac and I was in shorts!
In the lunch break, Mrs Anderson came to find me and told me to follow her. She took me to her room and then retrieved her belt. She told me to remove my shorts, then raced the belt back and forth over my bottom. I was in tears in no time and the belt almost removed my skin.
After about 10 smacks, she stopped and warned me not be late again. But somehow I forgot the punishment very quickly and was late again the next week. Mrs Anderson was angry at seeing me again so soon. She brought the cane and delivered four hard smacks on my bare legs – then she grabbed my shirt collar and dragged me into her room, where she caned my hand as well.
Contributor: James