Head had five canes, each topped with sealing wax
There was a time when headmasters rejoiced in their capacity to cane naughty schoolboys. But times had changed and now they were cagey even about the discussing the subject at all. That’s what journalist Anthony Hancox of the Birmingham Daily Gazette (UK) found. Your eyes might pop when you see he wrote this in 1954.
I ONCE knew a headmaster who had a set of five canes,
each tipped with red sealing wax. His pupils were noted for their exemplary
behaviour. But I’ll bet he doesn’t dare to use those canes any more.
For yesterday I rang up some headmasters and
headmistresses and discovered an astonishing thing: they now seem more afraid
of “getting the cane” than their pupils.
Before I spoke to them I had been reading about Mr.
Oliver Whitfield, the County Durham head who caned all 200 of his boys (we
met him here). For his boldness he will go down in
history. Today his own probable punishment is to be discussed in the House of
Commons.
It made me wonder how other heads viewed caning. I
started to ring them up.
“Well, I’d rather you got an official
statement ...”
“I can assure you there’s very little
caning now ...”
“One has to remember that some parents
might not be co-operative in this matter ...”
“It’s a somewhat delicate subject these
days ...”
These were the sort of evasions I got as answers. I
rang up a county education officer. The moment I said I wanted to discuss the
question of caning in schools, he replied: “I have no comment to make.”
When Mr. Whitfield wielded his cane 200 times he was a
very bold man indeed.
Please don’t think I am necessarily advocating the use
of the good old “swish stick.” Otherwise I shall have an army of small boys
waiting down the alley for me. I merely recall what happened.
‘LEGAL
SAFEGUARD’
In Birmingham, I find it is left to individual heads
to decide whether or not they will use the cane. If he wants to delegate his
authority for caning to his deputy he does so in writing. “A legal safeguard
these days,” it was explained.
Heads religiously keep “punishment books” – another
useful reference in case of subsequent upheaval with irate parents, solicitors,
local M.P.s, or anyone else. I don’t think the books are very much used. A
Solihull head told ne he had used only two pages in three years.
What happens in other lands? Miss Florence Rowe, of
Uplands Junior School, Smethwick, was recently teaching in America. “I never
saw a cane all the time I was there,” she said. “But I did hear of a mouthwash
for telling lies.”
I wonder if Birmingham Museum has yet added a cane to
its collection of ancient instruments?
Extracted from Talk of the Midlands, by
Anthony Hancox, Birmingham Daily Gazette (UK), 22 July
1954.
Picture credit: Comixpank
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