If one theme deserves to stand above all others in this survey, it is fairness.
Former pupils frequently judged their punishments not simply by how unpleasant they were but by whether they believed they had deserved them.
The Guilty Pupil
A surprising number of respondents accepted responsibility.
Some stated quite plainly that they had been caught doing something they knew was wrong.
Their later attitude towards punishment was often matter-of-fact.
They might not have enjoyed the experience, but they understood why it occurred.
The Partly Guilty Pupil
Other cases were more complicated.
The sixteen-year-old punished for impertinence towards his gym master admitted being cheeky but thought the teacher had exaggerated the offence.
His judgement was correspondingly balanced: the punishment was effective but only partly deserved.
The Innocent Pupil
The strongest resentment appears where guilt itself was disputed.
The boy accused of cheating in 1958 remained convinced that another pupil had copied from him.
His parents supported him.
For him, the question of deterrence was almost meaningless.
One cannot sensibly deter a person from committing an offence which he believes he never committed.
Fair Procedure
Fairness therefore concerned more than the final penalty.
It included:
whether the pupil was heard,
whether the facts were established,
whether provocation was considered,
whether previous warnings had been given,
and whether the punishment was proportionate.
Authority Depends Upon Legitimacy
A teacher possessed authority because the school granted it.
But respect for that authority depended partly upon how it was exercised.
Strictness and fairness could coexist.
Indeed, many former pupils appear to have respected precisely those teachers who combined the two.
The Lasting Verdict
The pupil eventually left school.
The teacher’s formal authority then disappeared.
What remained was the former pupil’s judgement.
The fact that respondents decades later still distinguished sharply between punishments they considered deserved and those they considered unjust demonstrates how important fairness had been.
