Campaign to ban cane in British schools gets global attention
In 1972 a new campaign was underway to ban corporal punishment in British schools supported by a book ‘The Last Resort’ – The New York Times reported.
Despite Outcry, Caning Prevails in British Schools
LONDON, Oct. 14—A little more than 300 years ago a group of school boys went to Westminster to hand the Speaker of the House of Commons what they called “a modest remonstrance” against the use of caning in the schools.
Their petition protested
“this vile way of castigating in use, wherein our secret parts, which are by
nature shameful, and not to be uncovered, must be the anvil exposed to the
immodest eyes and filthy blows of the smiter.”
The recollections of school
beatings that have dotted English literature ever since—Joyce and Orwell are
only two relatively recent examples testify to the petition’s failure. Today
Britain is the only major European nation where physical punishment is a
regular means of school discipline.
The Children’s Petition's
was only the first recorded instance of an attempt to abolish beating.
Antibeating sentiment has advanced and retreated periodically. But today there
is only one local school district in England—Central London—where corporal punishment
has been prohibited, and even there the prohibition applies only in primary
schools.
New Campaign Under
Way
Over the last few weeks a
new campaign—generally regarded as the most serious in the last 20 years—has
been launched. The effort, supported by groups of parents and younger teachers,
has centered on the publication of a chilling, documented survey of children's
and teachers’ reports from schools all over Britain.
The book, “A Last Resort?”
has been part‐written, part-compiled by Peter Newell, a former deputy editor
for The Times educational supplement.
Mr. Newell quotes surveys
showing that nearly 90 per cent of English teachers favor the right to apply
corporal punishment. He reports a recent survey in 70 secondary schools, of
which 42 were said to use caning as a “regular” means of discipline, and 23
more as a last resort.
He quotes at random from
regulations of different school districts, some of which, he says, “show a
regard for detail which would quicken the pulse rate of any sadistic pornographer.”
2 Varieties of Canes
An elaborate brochure is
printed by one cane manufacturer [See more of his here].
It offers two varieties:
“Small (two shillings.
Approximately 20 inches long. Thin, pliable, curved handle. Made from junior
school cane. Suitable for younger children.)”
“Senior (two shillings
six‐pence. Approximately 28 inches long…for general exhibition in home or
school among children of middle‐late childhood.)”
The brochure goes on to
note that canes are sent plainwrapped to insure privacy. It suggests that the
cane not be applied to bare flesh, adding that “pants afford the modesty a
child is entitled to.” Finally it praises the character‐building qualities of
the cane. “One has only to meet adults who were caned, and realize the quality
and quiet self‐assurance of many such people,” it said.
Corporal punishment is now
unusual in American schools but it has been specifically outlawed in only a few
areas, including New York City. It has been prohibited state‐wide by New Jersey
and Massachusetts.
American opponents of
corporal punishment have been increasingly active over the last year, seeking
to get actual laws and regulations on the books. Suits challenging the legality
of corporal punishment have been filed in courts across the country and
citizens’ groups have sought enactment of legislation against caning.
Caning, which involves from
one to six strokes on the hand or buttocks, is painful, but the comments of
British children and parents stress the humiliation more than the pain.
One girl wrote: “If I ever
got the cane, which I will never do, I don't think I could bear to go on. I am
sure I would rather leave the school than face the comments of other people.”
Teachers Detail Canings
Parents, in letters to the Society
of Teachers Opposed to Physical Punishment — the group that is sponsoring the
new campaign—spoke of bedwetting and nightmares among their children. “In my
personal belief,” wrote one mother, “it is slowly destroying in my son that
natural enthusiasm and exuberance to learn inherent in a normal, happy child.”
Teachers’ accounts were the
most detailed. One diary entry read as follows:
“Slight policy change in
recent weeks. Head [master] insists that all caning be recorded and all
personal canes handed in—prior to this the majority of canings went unrecorded.
At a recent assembly: Deputy. Head on stage, wielding the cane. Two girls
called out to back of hall for evading detention previous night. Audible caning
whilst school waited —then we will now sing hymn number …”
Interviewed in a tiny
office at the National Council for Civil Liberties, which is cosponsor of the
new effort, Mr. Newell said that there was increasing distaste among younger
teachers for authoritarian forms of education of which beating was, he said,
“the most conspicuous symbol.”
Change Expected
In the long run, he said,
this tendency should result in change. But in the short run, with a
Conservative Government in power and wide popular concern with problems of
crime and disorder, he was not optimistic. The campaign will concentrate, he
said, on making members of Parliament and the public media aware of the
problem.
Mr. Newell's book and the
new campaign have drawn considerable exposure here, but not all of it is
encouraging. In a television confrontation with an older teacher who favored
caning, Mr. Newell asked him:
“When you cane a boy, are
you trying to hurt him or simply shame him?”
“Both,” the older man
replied.
As published in the New York Times, 15 October 1972
Picture credit: Brett Stevens
Traditionalschooldiscipline@gmail.com
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