Corporal punishment was most dramatic when it was exceptional.
Where it occurred frequently, its meaning could change.
The Exceptional Punishment
In some schools a formal caning was a major event.
Pupils talked about it.
The offender might wait outside the headmaster’s office.
The punishment might be recorded.
Parents might be informed.
Its rarity increased its importance.
The Everyday Punishment
Other recollections describe a very different atmosphere.
The Lancashire primary-school respondent remembered classroom canings as an everyday feature of school life.
Another grammar-school contributor stated that he had not even attempted to list his classroom slipperings because they were numerous and unrecorded.
Here corporal punishment had become part of ordinary discipline.
Familiarity
Familiarity could reduce psychological impact.
A pupil who had never seen a cane used might find the prospect formidable.
A pupil who watched classmates punished every week could regard the practice as an expected part of school life.
This did not mean that the punishment ceased to be unpleasant.
It meant that it ceased to be extraordinary.
The Danger of Diminishing Returns
A disciplinary method used too frequently risks losing some of its deterrent effect.
The Lincoln respondent provides an individual example.
Once he had experienced his first substantial punishment, he became less concerned about maintaining his previously high standard of behaviour.
At the institutional level, something similar might occur where punishment became commonplace.
Why Continue?
Teachers may nevertheless have continued using the method because it produced immediate results.
A noisy pupil was dealt with.
The lesson resumed.
The class became quiet.
From the teacher’s viewpoint, the immediate objective had been achieved even if the same pupil misbehaved again the following week.
Short-Term and Long-Term Discipline
This distinction is fundamental.
A punishment may be highly effective for five minutes and ineffective over five months.
Both statements can be true.
Routine corporal punishment may therefore tell us more about the need to maintain immediate classroom order than about its success in permanently changing character.
