Michael is just 15, young for his age with dark hair and brown eyes. One Saturday afternoon at his old-fashioned boarding school in the late 40s he is sitting alone in the detention room writing an essay set by his form master, who is also, as it happens, the school's discipline master. Michael's spelling and punctuation leave a great deal to be desired, and will surely draw further retribution on him from Mr Jameson. In the enlightened future, educationists would call Michael dyslexic: no such indulgence now for careless schoolboys. Alas, his pen is running ahead of his brain. He writes vividly and fast because the subject is all too close to his experience; in fact Michael is so absorbed in the task that it hardly seems like a chore. The master himself, even as he frowns at the slapdash style, will feel a certain satisfaction at the content. So much, perhaps, that Michael's effort may avoid the common destination of detention essays, the waste bin. It may be slipped into a drawer or a file for re-reading at leisure, and thus - who knows? - it may survive...
Michael G. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT, MY EXPERIANCE, IS IT A GOOD THING Mr Jameson
This is a school where if you are bad you will probaly get corporal punishment. In the junior house this is the paddle from the housemaster, when I was there it was Mr Jones, he was famous for being strict. I was a good boy then (ahem!) so I never got it except once when we were mucking about in the dorm at night (Simons, Paige and me). Mr Jones was very angry, we were all spanked! In the playroom there is a bench, you lay on it a leg on each side and grip the front legs with your hands. I got 4 spanks, Simons was dorm captain and Paige was always in troble so they got 6. But I had to wait till last which is bad. Mr Jones gave really hard hits, Simons bum went bright red and he was crying after only 2. Paige was hard and rekoned he could take it, but he couldnt he yelled worse than Simons. So you can guess when it was my turn I did'nt want to get on the bench but I had too. I thoght Mr Jones would go easy on me because I was the youngest, no such luck though, the spanks on my bare bottom were HARD! I cried worse than the others. Next day everone laughed at us because we couldnt sit down properly. The paddle was leather with holes in it which left little round marks you could see for a week so at shower time everone wanted to look. Paige said he only yelled because the paddle got his bumhole which wasnt fair, Simons said he should'nt of pushed it out then, it served him right. Looking back I think this was a realy good punishment, it taught us a lesson and we were quite as mice after in the dorm. Detentions would have made no diffrence. Mr Jones spanked me hard that time for being naughty, but he was fair, he was my favourite teacher.
The paddle is for little kids, when you come to senior school if you are lazy or cause trouble you are punished severley by the cane! In form orders it is automatic if you come bottom in 4 subjects. Unfortunatley for me I am in the A class but I am not as brainy as the others so it has happened to me 3 times. My gaurdian would not let me go down, she said I must try harder and do my work better. I dont think its fair, someone has to come last. The form orders are read out at assembly on Friday, then the caning list, you just dread your name being on it. It is so embarasing, they all look at you, everone knows what you are going to get. You wait all day till 5 o'clock before going to the Tower room to get punished. For bad work 3rd form get 4 strokes, 4th form 6, 5th form 8, propably 2 more for smoking, stealing, out of bounds, rude to a teacher etc. Mr Jameson does it (my kind form master!!). You stand nose to the wall until your called in. The first thing you see is the HORSE waiting and the CANE to punish you, this is senior school. You go to a chair and undress (everthing). I think the worst part is walking up to the horse. Mr J has a realy good look while he lectures you, my heart is thumping so much I can hardly hear and I feel sick. Over the horse you go, your hands are strapped to the front legs, actually it feels quite _s_e_x_y because you are naked (joke)! Not for long, when the cane taps across your bottom you know the first stroke is coming, but sometimes it taps 8-10 times & you keep tensing your cheeks but it dosent come. Then - wow! the pain is unbeleivable, the paddle is nothing, being caned is HELL I can tell you! My first two times I got 6 whacks, this year (5th form) I had 8, that was awful. It is accross the middle at first, these are hard but they get worse across the lower part of your bum where you sit, it is agony there. The last two of the 8 went right accross the rest, they were the worst of all, like torchure, I just yelled! Mr Jameson really punished me, he likes to, even thogh he knows I try hard not to come last but he still canes me severley, so I work twice as much after that. He knows about lazy boys like me. The stripes on my bum remind me for a week at least, they sting all the time when Im sitting in lessons. I think the cane has been good for me, I will get better results in my exams. It is also humilating because somtimes there are witnesses, and once some special visitors came in to watch!! I dont like people to see me geting disapline, so I behave and do all my work.
Caning hurts alot but if you are realy naughty it is not the worst you can have. This term I went out fishing at night with Jon and Brian, even in daytime it is forbiden now in the river. Coming back we were caught red handed, just my luck, and Jon argued & was rude to the bursars wife Mrs Macdonald. So because of Jon we all got the BIRCH!! I only went because Chas chickened out, I didnt even want to go but I was birched anyway. It was Brians great idea but he got 12, my sentence was 15 strokes! That was'nt fair, just because it was his first time. Jon said we were so lucky, he was getting 24, we couldnt beleive it. There are 6 or 7 long lashes in the birch so its like 7 wips at once, not 15 but 105 stripes on my little bum! What a present for your 15th birthday!! Jons is quite small and skinny, it was getting 170!!
Now I will give you a report from my expert experience. The birch feels diffrent, it stings like mad over your whole cheeks every time and slowly gets red-hot till you yell and cry, its like your whole bottom is blazing with fire. But it dosent bruse like the cane, I can tell you a secret, the cane hurts more. Being birched is still the worst thogh, you get more strokes and for some of them you have to RIDE on the back of the horse with your legs on either side wide open and your tail up in the air and the twigs go everwhere, the pain is so bad! I heard I was going to get 12 like Brian but my gaurdian asked for me to ride the horse, so I got extra, she likes to have me disaplined hard. Jon rode too, his whole second 12, for being INSOLENT, Mrs Macdonald watched it. We went to see Mr Jameson before as we are his favourite pupils (ahem!), we begged him to take pity on us and give the birch ACROSS our bums not curling or low. But some twigs went low anyway, they got my balls (testicals), that hurt so much because I am quite well developed there now. Now here is somthing very embarassing to say. On the horse you twist and rub on it alot, it makes some boys _s_e_x_y, like me every time! Mr J knows I always get stiff on the horse, he understands, but it was very shamefull apologising to Mrs Macdonald like that, it just wont go down. She kept staring at it, she said "Well really! " Jon hates her. He said he didnt mind showing his bare bum to her for being cheeky but he would never ride in front of her. He did though, and he got 2 extra for missing counts. He had to yell out the counts all through, he did'nt get of one stroke, he had 26 birches and then went over Mrs Macdonalds lap to be spanked on the stripes!! He said that was 10 mins of sheer HELL. I can tell you Jon will never be defiant and rude to grownups again, he has definatly learned his lesson for ever (Me too!)
Going out at night is a very bad offence, especally fishing, even thogh I didnt plan to I think I deserved to have the birch, 12 strokes on my bare bottom. But 15 was to severe. Brian should of got more than me, it was his idea, he should have got 15 but not riding. I think Jon deserved all his punishment, it was realy good, it served him right, even the spanking. Here I will make my suggestion to teachers. For such a crime we should be made an example, the 3 of us should have had disapline in public on the stage in front of the whole school. Then knowone would dare go out of bounds at night ever again. It would be so bad, just imagine, everone watching poor Michael geting birched bare bottom in the nude! I would'nt be brave at all, I know I would beg and cry. This is my secret confession, it would be the worst nightmare punishment for me. I hope I will never have it.
So that is my experiance of coporal punishment, I am glad I have been given the paddle, the cane (3 times) and now the BIRCH. It is good for boys like me, it has taught me proper disapline, good behavour and to work my hardest. Also I get a lot of respect even from teachers now because everone knows I am the cool boy who was birched! I can asure you, Mr Jameson is definatly the BEST for punishing
Michael G! ! (His favourite student)
1800 words
I hope you have enjoyed my SA