I have already written in more general terms about my young, beautiful tutor and how she used a ruler regularly during my evening studies. Now I’d like to tell you about a specific incident when corporal punishment was used.
As with most Asian kids, academic subjects were treated with paramount importance in my household. Mum set a high threshold of 95% and I had to secure at least that in all my subjects. Maths and science were given more weight and mum pushed me to get full marks there.
These standards were conveyed to my tutor, who was responsible for helping me achieve them. I was quite capable of meeting these demands – and often did. However, on one occasion, I messed up badly on a maths test.
The way I saw it, the sooner I finished that maths test, the earlier I could get out of the classroom and play. So I made a rushed job of it and submitted a paper full of mistakes.
Later, when I received the score, I knew that I was in trouble. I got 87% and my grade-obsessed mum was not happy with it. That evening she informed my tutor of my pathetic performance and asked her to deal with me.
My tutor studied my test carefully and looked over my answers. She grabbed the ruler and positioned me in front of her. She told me that it was an easy test, where I should have easily scored 100%. Instead, I made a bunch of careless mistakes.
My tutor remarked that it was quite unusual for me to do so dismally, and she asserted that there must be some reason for my lack of concentration during the test. She demanded I tell her that reason truthfully.
I was awestruck by her astute analysis – but I lied. I told her that my concentration was fine during the test and I ‘just happened’ to make these silly mistakes. Miss pulled my hand out and sizzled it with a couple very hard smacks. I pulled back, but she drew my other hand out and smacked it equally hard.
She then warned me to tell the truth or she would keep smacking me like this. The hard smacks stung and my hands turned red. I was jolted my the smacking and grew increasingly nervous and fearful. Almost instantly, I apologised to Miss and told her the true story.
Miss lectured me for a few minutes on the importance of my school work, then she announced that she would give me eight smacks on my bum for my poor performance and a further six on my legs for not being truthful the first time round.
She bent me over the desk and smacked my butt hard. Then she ordered me to go up on my toes and smacked my calves. It was painful and I was crying all the time, pleading for forgiveness. Finally, Miss made me kneel facing the wall for a few minutes, then consoled me.
After this correction, I never let my concentration lapse in a test again, and certainly never lied to Miss either.
Contributor: Vinay