There was, however, another side to the argument.
Can something truly be described as a free choice when both alternatives are punishments?
Seventeen girls accepting corporal punishment sounds very different when the alternative is several days away from school at an important point in their education.
One contributor to the contemporary discussion argued that Saturday detention would have dealt with the matter perfectly adequately.
Others questioned why punishment was necessary at all.
After all, the girls had already attended the prom.
If their dresses had represented such a serious problem, why had they not simply been refused admission or asked to change before entering?
That was perhaps the strangest aspect of the whole affair.
The alleged offence occurred at the dance.
The girls were nevertheless allowed to remain.
Nothing disastrous apparently happened.
Then, several days afterwards, the school returned to the matter and imposed punishment.
For critics of school corporal punishment, this was precisely the sort of incident that made the practice increasingly difficult to defend.
