Perhaps the most striking feature of these school memories is the enormous variation in what could result in physical punishment.
Some offences were serious.
Fighting, stealing, deliberate defiance, smoking and truancy were among the reasons remembered by former pupils.
But other offences appear remarkably trivial.
Children recall punishment for talking, forgetting equipment, wearing incorrect clothing, laughing, eating food during lessons, being late and making noise.
In one particularly telling recollection, an entire class was strapped because somebody had eaten some raisins.
Another pupil remembered a whole class being punished because somebody opened a fire door and nobody admitted responsibility.
Collective punishment of this kind raises an obvious difficulty: punishment could fall upon children who had done nothing wrong.
Indeed, one former pupil specifically recalled being caned for smoking despite claiming not to smoke.
Once punishment is separated from individual responsibility, its educational purpose becomes questionable.
The child is no longer necessarily learning that actions have consequences. Instead, the lesson may be that authority possesses the power to punish regardless of individual guilt.
There was also considerable variation between teachers.
A minor offence overlooked by one member of staff might earn the slipper from another. Some teachers were remembered affectionately despite using corporal punishment. Others remained objects of dislike or fear decades afterwards.
This inconsistency matters.
For discipline to teach children about responsibility, they must have some reasonable understanding of the rules and consequences.
Where punishment depends heavily upon the personality, temper or preferences of the individual teacher, the child may learn less about right and wrong than about which teachers are dangerous.
The recollections repeatedly describe particular members of staff as frightening or terrifying.
Fear undoubtedly produced obedience.
But fear of an individual teacher is not necessarily the same thing as respect for a reasonable rule.
