All EOS blogs All Spain blogs  Start your own blog Start your own blog 

Donna Gee - Spain's Grumpy Old Gran

SHARE THE MOANS AND GROANS OF AN IRRITABLE EXPAT BRITISH JOURNALIST

Why schools must bring back the cane
Monday, June 22, 2015 @ 4:54 PM

During my time in junior school, I was petrified of the cane in Mr Coleman’s study. As headmaster, he was the only teacher allowed to dish out ­ punishment to errant 10-year-olds. 

 

I worked hard to make sure I never crossed him, or any other teacher for that matter.When I think back, the fear of bamboo on youthful fingers was  the biggest deterrent of all in keeping boisterous pupils on the straight and narrow.


My Dad wasn’t averse to clipping me around the ear when I stepped out of line at home; indeed he occasionally whacked me on the back of the head and was promptly ticked off by my stepmother for overstepping the mark. 


“Jack, that’s dangerous,’’ she’d complain. ‘’If you must hit the child, a smack on the leg is sufficient.’’


To anyone under 40, the above scenario must sound Dickensian and to some extent it was. But whilst I was a bit of a naughty kid at home, I made sure I kept on the right side of the school authorities.


Only once was I marched to Mr Coleman’s study and that was for stupidly lobbing a lump of coal onto the school playground. Don’t ask me where the coal came from because I haven’t a clue. 


Mind you, this was South Wales and at the time I was very much a minor. Anyway, you can imagine how this cowardly coal-chucker ­reacted when the headmaster brought out his cane. 


I burst into a flood of tears and apologies... and literally begged for mercy.


My emotional plea had the desired effect on Mr C, though I’ll never know if the cane would have hurt my hand more than his alternative punishment – the exertion of writing by hand 100 times, ‘I shall not deliver coal to the school playground’.


Even the most badly-behaved kids I grew up with were angels ­ compared to the arrogant, rebellious, knife-carrying yobs of 2015. And I am convinced the appalling behaviour of so many 21st-century youngsters is rooted in the absence of physical discipline.


What makes it worse is that in many cases, the parents of these kids are as bad as their offspring because they also grew up knowing they could take liberties with adults with no fear of punishment.


The fear of physical retribution certainly taught kids of my generation to respect authority. And you’ll struggle to find anyone over 60 who doesn’t agree with that sentiment.


I’ve a message for David Cameron his Commons cronies. Corporal punishment works. And it’s largely because Britain has abandoned corporal punishment that young yobs and yobesses run riot everywhere from Manchester to Magaluf.


I have never come across anyone who was permanently damaged, either physically or mentally, by the after-effects of six of the best. In fact, every victim I’ve spoken to said the experience did them good.


But try telling that to the politically correct dummies of Westminster who decided in 1987 to outlaw corporal punishment in state-run schools. 


The idealists had a ridiculous conception that they could sit brain-dead Neanderthals on their knee and talk sense into them.

\Instead, we saw the emergence of a superbreed of yob - the potentially violent rebels whose behaviour is prompting more and more teachers to turn their backs on the profession they used to love.


When the cane was king, the morons didn’t bother going to school. These days they revel in the opportunity to intimidate the helpless men and women charged with educating them.With no fear of painful retribution, they bombard their teachers with insolence and defiance, hoping to push their helpless victim ‘over the top’.


Unless there is a dramatic turnaround in political attitudes, I ­despair of the UK escaping the scourge of the blood-and-plunder demon it has brought on itself.


A scum society of scallies is running amok while their mothers and fathers enjoy the pleasantries of a comfortable jail cell or are out of their minds on drink and drugs.These lowlifes are a tiny minority, yet they are destroying British society. 


They respect nobody, live off the proceeds of stealing, mugging, drug pushing and benefits fraud - and even a step up into the gutter is too high a hurdle to jump.


In a country where the police are  not even armed, there is little chance of ridding Britain of these scumbags, or of educating them.


Personally, I’m all for establishing  a no-nonsense UK Guardia Civil to sort the problem out Spanish style, by treating the yobs in the only way they understand. 


Is there a realistic solution? I’m sure the ex-policemen and other law enforcers among The View’s readers will have something to say about that.


But those of you who grew up in the days when attacks on schoolteachers were unheard of will probably view the situation the same way as I do. To hell with all this political correctness.  Mr Coleman, your cane is needed. Desperately



Like 1




6 Comments


DJF42 said:
Saturday, July 25, 2015 @ 11:03 AM

Couldn't agree more Donna.
I am at a loss as to why I am the first to comment. Are we so afraid of the PC police?
I haven't come across your blogs before, this morning is my first read and I am tickled pink by your play on words, obviously you have a good command of the English language unlike those scallions you mention.
All of your opinions are the reason why I became an expat/immigrant to Spain having seen the writing on the wall during the last ten years of my working life up until 2007.
Keep up the good work Donna, I shall look forward to your future blogs.


charlieboy1 said:
Sunday, July 26, 2015 @ 10:17 AM

Yes Donna, I did receive the cane quiet a lot really, never saw eye to eye with a certain teacher, however I did deserve it each and every time. That along with the occasional clip around the ear from our local policeman kept me on the straight and narrow. Never been on benefits, never been more than a week without some form of employment from building work to City worker, never mugged or assaulted anyone and bought up two hard working respectable son's. The lawless behavior in some area's of our country sadden's me and has gone some way to keep us in Spain.


Mark Taha said:
Thursday, August 15, 2019 @ 9:08 PM

Surely Spain banned it decades before Britain?


JIMMY said:
Saturday, November 23, 2019 @ 10:50 PM

THE SCHOOL CANES SHOULD BE THERE STILL .
IN NSW ABOUT 30 OR 40 STUDENTS HAD BEEN EXPELLED THIS YEAR
A CANING WOULD SORTED THEM OUT NO PROBLEM .

APPRECIATE GROUPS OF CANING WORLDWIDE


Dave said:
Tuesday, January 12, 2021 @ 11:17 AM

I started school in the late 50's and went to a school in a rough are
in Surrey, some of the kids were really bad outside school but the threat of the cane sure kept them in line in school.
I managed to only get the cane twice in my entire schooling.
and both times for truancy and forging a note from my mum.
The headmistress used to patrol the corridors during lessons and if you were sent out of class and got caught you would be caned for sure ...it made me think twice about playing up


Moody said:
Sunday, April 21, 2024 @ 6:05 PM

I am German, but we did a ten day school study trip to Brighton (Worthing). Our way to England was by train and ferry. When we reached Cologne station half the pupils/students were missing, but once the train had crossed the Rhine and was entering Cologne station they were back, having enjoyed a cigarette in a smoker compartment. We made our train to Brussels and there was only minor unproper talk when a mixed German and Belgian border patrol checked us on the train. The only embarrassing part was the customs form where we wondered what was meant by the question sex on the form. It should have been replaced by gender to prevent answeres like yes or no.from Dover we took a german bus from our home town. In Worthing our teachers asked us if we wanted to visit an English school. We were oblivious to the fact that the cane was still in use at English schools in 1980. We told our teachers that we could have stayed in Germany if we wanted to visit a school. Well mentioning school uniforms and girl in skirts might have persuaded us to say - yes. Our smokers might have been in for a treat ;)
As a non smoker it wouldn't have affected me and if we had gotten a peek it for sure it would have been an entertaining action.
Smokers probably would have been against the cane.
From family talk I know that teachers tried to turn and aunt into a right handed person. Since caning her on her left hand whenever she was caught using it to write I assume that it only caused her pain but didn't affect her otherwise.
Somewhere I read that you need more force every time to get the same result as before.
According to a BBC TV discussionI saw on youtube I am lucky that I am not a drug addict. A teacher there said that the cane is their last means of discouraging drug use by pupils.
Corporal punishment was banned at German schools in 1970. Not a single student from our study tour used other drugs than cigarettes (made from tobacco).
The cane looks more like a cheap way for teachers to control the children given into their care. Swinging bamboo is cheaper than to employ more teachers.




Leave a comment

You don't have to be registered to leave a comment but it's quicker and easier if you are (and you also can get notified by email when others comment on the post). Please Sign In or Register now.

Name *
Spam protection: 
 
Your comment * (HTML not allowed)

(Items marked * are required)



 

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse you are agreeing to our use of cookies. More information here. x