The silence was deafening as I shuffled to the front of the school hall. And as hundreds of eyes bore into me, the headmistress ordered me to hold out my hand. “This punishment is for bringing shame on the school, its uniform and your family,” she stormed, before whacking me six times with a three foot cane.
As blow after blow rained down, each one more painful than the last, I fought the tears welling inside me. But there was no scope for pity or mercy. A ‘crime’ had been committed, and I was to be punished.
And the crime? ‘Bilking’ – trying to dodge paying my bus fare by pretending to the conductor that I couldn’t speak English. So, did the humiliation, shame, and red burning mark scorched onto my palm do the trick and ensure my rehabilitation? You bet.
And, believe me, as a deterrent, it worked for everyone else too. This was no blood-thirsty mob surrounding the handiwork of Madame La Guillotine. Every boy in that hall knew he could be next. You could almost taste the fear – let alone the blood.
Now, some may find this kind of corporal punishment barbaric. Yet it did the trick. You’d never find a single teacher at my alma mater quaking in his boots at the prospect of facing a classroom of recalcitrant schoolboys.
Which is why I applaud Education Secretary Michael Gove’s move to return power to the teacher by slackening the rules on physical force in school.
The measures will allow teachers to use reasonable force to deal with unruly pupils.
But to my mind, this doesn’t go far enough.
If we are going to re-establish order in the classroom, end truancy and restore respect for those in authority, then the only way forward is to bring back corporal punishment.
The current system, driven by politically correct loonies, is totally broken.
A recent series of attacks – ranging from stabbing to rape – are exquisitely eloquent examples of the violent behaviour which is soaring in the classroom.
Fear and pain is the only language that some children understand. Teachers need something in their armoury. Soft parenting, lack of muscle to discipline and a culture of blame has devastated schooling in this country.
Corporal punishment would, I’m certain, lead to a massive reduction in bad behaviour, disruption to other pupils and even the number of expulsions.
That’s aside from the net benefit of shaming a hitherto, gung-ho hoodlum who thinks he is untouchable and a hero to his mates.
Break him, break his stranglehold. And that rap on the knuckles may make him knuckle down and show him what he can really achieve.
This agonising decision must be informed
ABORTION. Even the word sounds horrific. And, it’s not just the woman but the man who can suffer terribly at the prospect of ending an unexpected pregnancy.
Believe me, though it happened decades ago, and is a subject I won’t be drawn on further, I speak from personal experience when I say this. Some situations are scored onto your soul and you live with them every day. Forever.
So I’m deeply disturbed by the government rejecting proposals regarding abortion clinics. Last week an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, which would open up more independent counsellors, looked like gaining official support. Now that looks unlikely to happen.
I firmly believe that a woman – and her male partner – should have the benefit of as much advice as they can before making a decision. At the moment, there is a stranglehold on the state-supported providers of such care.
Ultimately, the final choice lies with the woman.
Would things have turned out differently for me if there had been more support available then?
That, I’m afraid, I’ll never know.
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Should you hit a child in ANGER....answer is NO , so why would it be okay to do it in cold blood.
With your views on corporal punishment and your sexist views from previous posts you belong in a different era.
Violence breeds violence
Recently, because an 'e-petition' to bring back the death penalty had attracted over 100,000 supporters, the matter would be debated in Parliament.
The Government claims this process will bring democracy directly to the people.
What a load of rubbish.
Even if every voter and every MP in the country wanted to bring the death penalty back, it would not happen because of the European Community laws.
So, the chances of bringing back corporal punishment, never mind capital punishment, is zero.
CP is not PC these days.
Discuss.
Weird that our European counterparts have similarly liberal laws yet don't produce the same amount of snarling anti social yobbo scum Britain does.
All that education and you're still clueless eh Freeman? Concentrate on getting the rich and arrogant off now there's a good boy.
The current system, driven by politically correct loonies, is totally broken.
I totally agree, its about time the so called authorities started to listen to the people and stop pandering to the weak kneed spinless minority, the return of Corporal punishment is badly needed in our schools.
I received the cane on a number of occasions, and it hurt, but it taught me not to do the same thing twice and it also taught me to respect authority and do as I was told without arguing or asking "why should I"
Bring it back now !!
What makes Nick Freeman believe that today's 'gung-ho hoodlums' would politely and obediently submit, without retaliating in any way, to being beaten? He is writing about feral thugs who will put a knife in you if so much as look at them in a way that they don't like. Corporal punishment will lead to more violence against teachers, nothing else. Nick Freeman needs to wake up and live in the 21st century.
I agree with Nick as a deterant it certainly worked for all but the most stupid. However, I was strapped once for not being able to afford football socks as my last pair were stolen some weeks before. I was almost caned for defending myself when I was jumped on by a gang of lads outside school and not in uniform, the reason I would have been caned was because "some local people might have known which school I went to".
Some teachers abused the use of the cane as some sort of gratification or power over the children, unfortunately they also gave the do gooders the perfect excuse to get it banned.
The cane should be reintroduced for the more serious crimes affecting other people such as theft, bullying and assault etc, (school or adulthood) but not for forgetting to do homework for example it's up to the individuals if they want to learn and get a good job or not.
I quite agree. Corporal punishment was a massive discouragement from doing wrong. Having been beaten you didn't do it again - you learnt the lesson. Todays PC correct numskulls are too thick to realise this.
I hope the MEN isn't paying Nick Freeman for this column, when he obviously benefits from the therapy it affords him.
Go on, Nick, share every facet of your previous life with us readers... let it all out.
Now... breathe.
I attended school in the 60s. At junior school when in assembly the headmaster called out the names of any wrongdoers, they had to wait outside his office till assembly was over. All the children on their way to their classes passed the accused and we all knew what their fate was. It was a deterrant to most pupils. The problem with society as a whole stems back to the the withdrawal of disipline in schools, and in general young people grew up with some respect for authority and their elders, not the case nowadays is it !!!
A bloke who's made a living helping people avoid facing up to their moral responsibilities really thinks he's qualified to comment on such matters?
What a total nutter.
Stop publishing this individuals incompetent, uneducated ramblings.
And the crime? ‘Bilking’ – trying to dodge paying my bus fare by pretending to the conductor that I couldn’t speak English. So, did the humiliation, shame, and red burning mark scorched onto my palm do the trick and ensure my rehabilitation? You bet.
And now you do a much more elaborate form of bilking to allow dangerous drivers to continue driving dangerously, whilst netting a fortune in the process.
Do you know what rehabilitation means?
The veiws by posters seem to be a mixed bag, those who grew up in a time when respect for elders and authority were at the forefront of society and those against, schooled in the lax years of respect and punishment. These are the two sides to the coin.In my time at school yes it was a deterant and stopped the kids that were border line trouble and put them back on the straight path but for some it became a daily occurence so you get use to it.Physical contact has it's place in todays society as barbaric as some may think but not in the guise we had from my school days. We call them school children but thats not what they are, some are nasty little thugs that have no discapline at home with parents who allow them to rome the streets at night doing whatever they fancy and if they get arrested it is these parents who blame the police for victimising there little hooligan. First and foremeost we need a proper sentance for Knife crime and carrying a knife. 10years for the first and five for the latter with no time off. , Bring back the Borstals with tough ragimes and let the military run them. Teachers don't need corporal punishment, what they do need is the right to defend themselves with force if needed but also with the support of our communities and the parents in that community. Education in many forms begins at home the only problem these days is to many oarents are uneducated to the degree they think criminallity is ok just look at the riots.
All children need to understand real discipline away from the home and what better place than in the schools - like it used to be. Yes, I'm old fashioned and born in the fifties but I know there are thousands of my contemporaries that will agree with me that the the world is a sadder and unfriendlier place than it used to be - in fact, there are a lot of angry people(for reasons unknown to me) out there and take offence so easily. Also, there's a lot of rudeness, disrespect and outright belligerence from a lot of people. They used to say 'politeness and a smile costs nothing' - how true !
'Hmmm... must think of something desperately controversial to write about..."
I too was schooled in the era of the cane, or in my case the strap, and when I think back I wonder at how servile we must have been to put up with it. I find it very hard to immagine some of todays huge and fit youths standing in one place whilst someone hits them with whatever implement and, quite frankly, they would be fools to do so! What I do recall is that many of the teachers in my day, not all, were bullies who should never have been allowed anywhere near a classroom as without the right to to thrash children they would never have taught them anything. As it happens, all this type of 'teacher' taught their pupils was that 'violence only begets violence'. I do not say that the strap caused me any lasting harm but it taught me little of any value.
corporal punishment should be back in school, If violence breeds violence then what has happend to the kids since it was stopped. My children had a smack on the legs if they didnt behave and they are not violent one bit, also i was smacked and i am not a violent person i just have respect for people so all you do gooders are talking a load of rubbish.
bring back the birch........and use it on the clown nick freeman.
Do you think this will make them drive properly Nick?
I agree with the no hitting. The kids of today arent scared of the threat of the cane like they would have been in my day. Start parenting classes and make attendance obligatory for the parents of unruly kids. Put curfew hours in place. If kids dont behave at schoool make the parents take the responsibility themselves of ensuring they are at home if not at school. I have seen so many naughty kids whose parents use the excuse "Hyperactivity" "ADHD" some of these kids are just out of control. TV and electronic games are used as babysitters, I dont know of many kids that dont have tv, games consoles in their bedrooms, beds are for sleeping not sitting watching tv. Kids need rules, kids need routine, teach parents these skills. Send the parents that dont work into schools to help.
absolute rubbish! violence comes back to society! all you are creating is people looking for payback!
IS THIS NEWS.............
I don't like this argument "it never did me any harm" and it "taught me respect". Great, well done you.
Corporal punishment was banned buy the time I went to school. I am, or like to think so at least, a well rounded and productive member of society. I have values, a decent moral compass, respect for authority. And many of my peers I can say exactly the same about. My generation has not spawned more criminals than previous ones as a result of a lack of violent punishment according to recorded crime over the years. People were still convicted of crimes in as great a number when corporal punishment was used.
My point is there is no proof to show it is a deterent or it prevents bad behaviour.
One additional point, for all those who commented that they received the cane and henceforth did not commit the same wrong, what does that say about you? That you had to be beaten so you would get the message that something was wrong. Not something I would be proud of.
Have you been a teacher Nick ?Do you know how violent some of these parents can be ? Many of the kids in Manchester schools are Somali etc..etc...How do you think they or their parents would respond to caning ? The good old days are long gone. It would cause riots in Manchester.
Nick and his contemporaries were respectful of authority not because of the use of the cane but in spite of it. Their unquestioning respect for authority and acceptance that public humiliation of young people with physical violence could take place legitimately was part of the prevailing culture at the time. Now to say that lack of respect amongst children is due to the fact that they aren't caned is over simplifying matters. There are other more effective ways of instilling respect and an understanding of how to be a productive member of society, like having parents who believe in you, who show you by example how to act in the world by nurturing self respect, compassion and self discipline.