It was after about a week that I got into serious trouble. Mrs. Johnson had told us to get on quietly with work, and to make no noise, but I risked a whisper to a friend sitting nearby. Mrs Johnson noticed, gave me extra work and said that I would be punished severely if I spoke again. United Kingdom, schoolboy attempting to destroy school cane on abolition of CP in Inner London, 1981 Not a Rat: When Brenda refuses to tattle on her friends she is secured to a vaulting horse for sixteen strokes of the cane, delivered with considerable vigour by the ballet teacher, Madame Boulais. Duncan, Samuel, 17, relocated to Ohio from New Orleans school where paddling was familiar form of discipline, 2005 Germany: caning demonstration at the school museum in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, 2008, supposedly representing 1875

Corpun file 7213a at www.corpun.com Dublin Evening Mail, 17 August 1937 Today's Letters To The Editor School Punishments Germany: boy, 11, pretends to be caned as photo stunt for ceremony of putting school cane in museum, Munich, 1970 I attended a boys’ grammar school in the North of England in the 1960s. Corporal punishment was widely used. Most of the teachers used the slipper, while the headmaster and deputy head used the cane. And what should be done with the cane? Should we destroy or keep our history? Should we be pulling down statues and banning books?My mother told me years afterwards that I hardly spoke one word on the train between Norwich and London. I just sat very quietly, but always managed a smile when she looked at me, because I knew that she was not any happier than I. Iran (known at the time as Persia): caning the soles of the feet (falaka or bastinado), date unknown Japan: thought to be from the same school, but possibly more recent, another picture of a student being caned with a kendo sword Singapore: Suparman Adam, secondary school principal, turned school round with more vigorous enforcement of caning, 2002 I always enjoyed the walk through the village, and one of the big decisions to be made each Sunday was with whom you were going to walk and of course sit next to in church. I usually walked with Marjory, a girl from Newport, who suffered from dreadful bouts of asthma. I lost count of the times she had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance, fighting for every breath. We were often awakened at night by the sound of her gasping and wheezing, followed by hurried footsteps as she was carried out of the dorm. She was usually gone for about four days, and then of course had more frightening stories to tell us when she returned.

United Kingdom, a much clearer picture of the Walsall secondary tawse, removed from a school in 1988 Coulson, Simon, age not stated, English private schoolboy who supports CP, interviewed on TV about being caned, 1996 (also video clip) Botswana: Tebogo Malete, 27, receiving five strokes of the cane on his bare seat at traditional court, for housebreaking, 2005

Ofsted’s damning report of poor management, weak discipline and terrible exam results, has designated the school as failing. He wants to save the school from being turned into an Academy and has written a report in defence of the criticisms. He asks his daughter to help in the wording. USA: Fiedler, Bobbi, Member of Los Angeles School Board, "takes paddling" for press publicity stunt on reintroduction of school CP, 1980 United Kingdom: artist's impression of a senior Approved School (reformatory) inmate being officially caned, c.1960s Canada, "the machine" into which prisoners were secured for paddling in Ontario provincial institutions, 1950s (poor-quality photograph)

This took a while, given the painful state of my posterior. Eventually I stood, still tearful, facing Mrs Seaton. My hands were carefully massaging my smarting rear. I could feel the mark left by that wayward third stroke on bare flesh, not covered by my short trousers as the others were. Molly and I had been allowed to have our beds side by side so that we could be together during the air raids, so in the morning I whispered to her not to worry, that our fares would come, I was sure. Each day the train lists were read out in the dining room and I tried not to show too much interest … and then … wow … one day our names were called out, our fares had come, and with only three days to wait.

I yelled out in agonised protest, trying to let the teacher know how much she was hurting me. She knew.

Slim Kim: When Kim is caught sneaking out of detention by the Headmaster, she is forced to accompany him to his office for a sound thrashing, an experience she finds, much to her surprise, to be intensely exciting...United States, Tennessee reformatory paddles, and pictures of teen boy inmates who probably received it, 1955 However, all instances of "corridoring" were recorded and if you were sent out three times in the course of a week, you could be sent for the cane. Teacher's Pet: Mr Berglund, the handsome biology teacher, shares a secret with some of his older female pupils. If they are late to class or miss homework, instead of being sent to the principal's office for a punishment which would go on their record, he undertakes to spank the girls privately. But he simply isn't prepared for the devious Kelly, who experiences every implement in his arsenal. The two dormitories for the littlest girls were approached through a ‘covered way’ leading off the play-room. Three nights a week we had a bath, and on the other nights we had what was called a ‘strip wash’ – hair brushing and fingernail inspection. Canada, "the machine" into which prisoners were secured for paddling in Ontario provincial institutions, 1950s (clear computer-generated b/w drawing from the photograph)