Looking back, it becomes clear that corporal punishment involved more than the physical punishment itself.
There was often a considerable element of theatre.
The teacher opening the drawer.
The slipper appearing.
The pupil being summoned.
The rest of the class suddenly becoming extraordinarily quiet.
In PE, several boys might be lined up together.
Sometimes punishment took place in front of classmates.
This public aspect was deliberate in many schools.
Punishing one pupil could simultaneously warn thirty others.
Whether such methods were fair or effective is another question entirely, but the deterrent value clearly depended partly upon everybody knowing what might happen.
The slipper’s reputation therefore mattered almost as much as the slipper itself.
