Comments on: The only reason I never got caned… http://www.oldmidhurstian.co.uk/2010/07/26/the-only-reason-i-never-got-caned/ Surviving the past one day at a time Mon, 14 Nov 2011 05:06:07 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Old Midhurstian http://www.oldmidhurstian.co.uk/2010/07/26/the-only-reason-i-never-got-caned/comment-page-1/#comment-1991 Old Midhurstian Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:12:53 +0000 http://www.oldmidhurstian.co.uk/2010/07/26/the-only-reason-i-never-got-caned/#comment-1991 You make a perfectly fair point, it may well be that the absence of the cane increased my personal peril. The trouble is it's hard to be that objective when you're 11 or 12, simply not getting caned yourself is a bonus, especially when you're getting your hide tanned so often at home. One thing Luke would have done, had he known, would have been to enforce an apology, that was very much his style. I do have to question my own belief that the prefect system was working, in retrospect they must have been looking the other way. You make a perfectly fair point, it may well be that the absence of the cane increased my personal peril. The trouble is it’s hard to be that objective when you’re 11 or 12, simply not getting caned yourself is a bonus, especially when you’re getting your hide tanned so often at home.

One thing Luke would have done, had he known, would have been to enforce an apology, that was very much his style.

I do have to question my own belief that the prefect system was working, in retrospect they must have been looking the other way.

]]> By: Micky http://www.oldmidhurstian.co.uk/2010/07/26/the-only-reason-i-never-got-caned/comment-page-1/#comment-1988 Micky Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:54:40 +0000 http://www.oldmidhurstian.co.uk/2010/07/26/the-only-reason-i-never-got-caned/#comment-1988 So even Head Masters could buck the system and it's some years later that you, grateful at the time that your hide was spared, wonder whether perhaps his stance on minimising use of the cane might have been a factor in leading to you being bullied quite so much. My own bully did many minor kinds of nasty things to several of us First Years ('Sherrings' (small fish) we were called) but he tried it on once too often, was caught, caned and brought back to apologise to several of us. He didn't do it again. Not saying that Luke got it wrong - simply that there was a certain currency at that time - and in school, for most boys, that included the cane. So even Head Masters could buck the system and it’s some years later that you, grateful at the time that your hide was spared, wonder whether perhaps his stance on minimising use of the cane might have been a factor in leading to you being bullied quite so much.

My own bully did many minor kinds of nasty things to several of us First Years (‘Sherrings’ (small fish) we were called) but he tried it on once too often, was caught, caned and brought back to apologise to several of us. He didn’t do it again.

Not saying that Luke got it wrong – simply that there was a certain currency at that time – and in school, for most boys, that included the cane.

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