Re: Fictional 16-year-old "too senior to be caned" (a different Spud) -- Perspectives on Boys' Spankings 2

[ Show ]

Support VoyForums

[ Shrink ]

VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ]

Subject: Re: Fictional 16-year-old "too senior to be caned" (a different Spud)

Author:
Lucas
[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
Date Posted: 16:09:34 04/18/26 Sat

Mary Renault was a 20th century author famous for writing historical novels about ancient Greek figures including Theseus and Alexander the Great.

She also wrote The Charioteer which is a novel set before and during the Second World War. Confusingly, the main character has the nickname "Spud" just like John Milton in John van der Ruit's books (altho possibly not for the same reason).

At the start of the book it's the summer of Spud's fifth form year (year 11) in the 1930s at a traditional private boarding school in England. That means he would be sixteen years old. He's already making plans to try to get accepted to Oxford University.

It's implied that the school is run in a very strict and old fashioned way. The PE teachers bully the younger boys in swimming lessons. The youngest boys (probably 12 years old) are even terrified of the 16 year olds, and have to run errands and carry messages for them.

Spud upsets the Head of House, a prefect who would be aged 18 or 19. The Head of House summons Spud to his study to tell him off.

Spud is unhappy at having got in trouble, because he thinks highly of the Head of House, and the author writes that Spud wishes he "wasn't too senior to be beaten", because just receiving a caning would be easier than getting a lengthy disappointed lecture.

It's interesting that he's considered too old to be caned (or at least, "too senior") even while he's still in the fifth form.

At Christchurch Boys High School in New Zealand (not a private school, but very traditional) in the early 1970s, prefects did not give canings and it was considered highly questionable for even teachers to cane sixth formers. The boys caned most often were third formers and fourth formers (aged 13 to 15).

In the movie If.... a trio of sixth formers, supposedly aged about 17 (the actors actually aged about 25), are given a severe caning by prefects probably aged about 18 or 19. Something similar happens in Another Country. These are both set in traditional British private boarding schools - one in the late 1960s and one in the 1930s.

In the Spud books, closely based on real life in a 1990s South African private boarding school, I don't think anyone gets caned after they turn 16. In Roald Dahl's fiction and non-fiction describing canings from prefects and teachers in private schools in England and Wales, the boys being caned are all aged between 8 and 14 (in real life at least one of them may have been caned when several years older than that).

I think in a lot of 19th and 20th century schools, headmasters would still sometimes cane sixth formers for serious misbehaviour. But canings of sixth formers by prefects might have been much more rare.

This is all different from U.S. school systems that still paddle. In these I would guess 16, 17, and maybe 18 year old students still get paddled under the same rules as younger kids.

The high school junior paddled by the Headmaster at an early 1960s traditional American private school in Dead Poets' Society is in his junior year in high school so probably aged 16 or 17.

I don't know how countries in Africa and south-east Asia that still have school canings approach the question of what is "too old to be caned". In Singapore, judicial canings are not given to men over the age of 50.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

[ Login ] Create Account Not required to post.
Post a public reply to this message | Go post a new public message
* HTML allowed in marked fields.
Message subject (required):

Name (Registered users only):

Expression ^{(Optional mood/title along with your name) Examples: (happy, sad, The Joyful, etc.) help)}

E-mail address (optional):

* Type your message here:
>Mary Renault was a 20th century author famous for >writing historical novels about ancient Greek figures >including Theseus and Alexander the Great. > >She also wrote The Charioteer which is a >novel set before and during the Second World War. >Confusingly, the main character has the nickname >"Spud" just like John Milton in John van der Ruit's >books (altho possibly not for the same reason). > >At the start of the book it's the summer of Spud's >fifth form year (year 11) in the 1930s at a >traditional private boarding school in England. That >means he would be sixteen years old. He's already >making plans to try to get accepted to Oxford >University. > >It's implied that the school is run in a very strict >and old fashioned way. The PE teachers bully the >younger boys in swimming lessons. The youngest boys >(probably 12 years old) are even terrified of the 16 >year olds, and have to run errands and carry messages >for them. > >Spud upsets the Head of House, a prefect who would be >aged 18 or 19. The Head of House summons Spud to his >study to tell him off. > >Spud is unhappy at having got in trouble, because he >thinks highly of the Head of House, and the author >writes that Spud wishes he "wasn't too senior to be >beaten", because just receiving a caning would be >easier than getting a lengthy disappointed lecture. > >It's interesting that he's considered too old to be >caned (or at least, "too senior") even while he's >still in the fifth form. > >At Christchurch Boys High School in New Zealand (not a >private school, but very traditional) in the early >1970s, prefects did not give canings and it was >considered highly questionable for even teachers to >cane sixth formers. The boys caned most often were >third formers and fourth formers (aged 13 to 15). > >In the movie If.... a trio of sixth formers, >supposedly aged about 17 (the actors actually aged >about 25), are given a severe caning by prefects >probably aged about 18 or 19. Something similar >happens in Another Country. These are both >set in traditional British private boarding schools - >one in the late 1960s and one in the 1930s. > >In the Spud books, closely based on real life >in a 1990s South African private boarding school, I >don't think anyone gets caned after they turn 16. In >Roald Dahl's fiction and non-fiction describing >canings from prefects and teachers in private schools >in England and Wales, the boys being caned are all >aged between 8 and 14 (in real life at least one of >them may have been caned when several years older than >that). > >I think in a lot of 19th and 20th century schools, >headmasters would still sometimes cane sixth formers >for serious misbehaviour. But canings of sixth formers >by prefects might have been much more rare. > >This is all different from U.S. school systems that >still paddle. In these I would guess 16, 17, and maybe >18 year old students still get paddled under the same >rules as younger kids. > >The high school junior paddled by the Headmaster at an >early 1960s traditional American private school in >Dead Poets' Society is in his junior year in >high school so probably aged 16 or 17. > >I don't know how countries in Africa and south-east >Asia that still have school canings approach the >question of what is "too old to be caned". In >Singapore, judicial canings are not given to men over >the age of 50.
Choose Message Icon: [ View Emoticons ]

Notice: Copies of your message may remain on this and other systems on internet. Please be respectful.

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums^(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.