A Sense of Ceremony

When dealing with more serious misdemeanours, there was a stronger sense of ceremony involved with the caning and with good reason too. By formalising the event, both the gravity of the misdemeanor and the importance of facing up to a meaningful consequence provided by those in authority was all the more effectively impressed upon the boy's mind.

In many cases, a more formal caning was arranged for an appointed time and place, always at the master's convenience of course. This might be at the end of the school day or even the following morning in his study. In some cases, the master might choose to send a prefect to summon the boy from a lesson. In this way, the boy was never sure when his caning would take place and therefore heighten the anxiety in order to add to the punishment.

A good many masters attended to their own appearence in order to make the right kind of effect when the boy finally entered his study. One image that was popular was to stand ominously at the centre of the study wearing a formal academic gown and holding the cane between both hands, occasionallly flexing it into a curved arc and back again as he spoke to the lad.

Lady teachers also favoured the wearing of an academic gown and tastefully complemeted with a formal skirt and blouse, this could most certainly enhance her overall persona of a figure of authority in the boy's eyes. Personally, I always thought that it was necessary to reflect the values and ethos of the school and, through my appearence, give a strong impression to the boy that he is about to encounter the full authority of his school.

When a schoolmaster or schoolmistress donned his academic gown, this was a deliberate attempt to subconciously personify the very essence of authority and not his or her own feelings on the matter.