When I was at school, the answer would definitely have been detention, although toward the end of my school years I might perhaps have chosen the cane instead.
As a schoolboy I would always have chosen detention if given the option. I was frightened of the cane and hated the ritual and indignity surrounding it. The whole process — being summoned, waiting outside the study, the formal atmosphere, and then the punishment itself — seemed designed to make a lasting impression. Unfortunately, fear of punishment did not always prevent occasional lapses in judgment or moments of irresponsibility.
It was only after leaving school that I began to look at the cane differently. With time and distance, I came to understand that the fear it inspired was very much part of its effectiveness as a deterrent. In many schools the very possibility of being caned was often enough to keep order, even among boys who rarely found themselves in trouble.
Looking back, it was always interesting to compare experiences with others who had faced a visit to the headmaster’s study. What struck me was how differently boys reacted to the experience. For some, the anticipation was far worse than the punishment itself; for others, the shame and embarrassment lingered much longer than the physical pain. Personality, reputation, pride, and even the attitude of the master administering the punishment all played their part in determining how severe the experience felt.
Only my secondary school used the cane. Quite often it was administered by prefects, who were limited to three strokes, while on more serious occasions the Headmaster himself dealt with matters and was not restricted in the same way. The system reflected the discipline of the period, where senior boys were entrusted with authority and expected to help maintain standards throughout the school.
Although there were occasions involving both prefects and the Headmaster where, in theory, I might have been caned, in practice I never came particularly close. The only detentions I actually served were a couple of collective punishments handed out to the whole form for one incident or another. I never received an individual detention. At that school, disciplinary records mattered, and mine needed to remain as close to spotless as possible.
Detention itself was generally viewed as tedious rather than frightening. It meant lost free time, sitting silently for an hour or more after lessons, sometimes copying lines or doing extra work under supervision. For many boys it was inconvenient but bearable. The cane, however, carried a very different weight. It was not simply punishment; it was public knowledge, something that affected a boy’s standing among his peers and often became part of the unwritten history of school life.
Different schools handled matters differently. In some places caning was reserved for serious offences such as smoking, fighting, dishonesty, or repeated disobedience. Elsewhere it could be used for relatively minor offences if masters believed standards were slipping. By the later years of corporal punishment in schools, there was already debate about whether it remained appropriate or effective, and attitudes among pupils themselves could vary considerably. Some boys feared it intensely, while others preferred to “take the strokes and get it over with” rather than lose evenings or Saturdays in detention.
Most people who know my views on the subject will probably have little difficulty predicting which option I might eventually have preferred had I genuinely been offered the choice. As I grew older, I began to see why some boys chose the cane: it was quick, final, and usually carried no lingering inconvenience afterward. A detention could drag on for hours or interfere with sport, hobbies, or weekends, while the cane — unpleasant though it undoubtedly was — was over within moments.
That said, as a schoolboy standing outside the Headmaster’s study, hearing the muffled sounds from inside and waiting for one’s name to be called, I suspect I would still have chosen detention every single time.
