At least one quaint custom of British education has not changed since Tom Brown's Schooldays: the tradition of "six of the best" for misbehaving pupils. Although the cane and the strap are still essential equipment for every self-respecting headmaster, public indignation against corporal punishment is on the rise, and the Labor government would like to abolish it for good.
The outcry against caning stems largely from two recent cases involving brutality in the application of corporal punishment. In May, Headmaster William Michael Byrd of Britain's Cholderton College was sentenced to five years in prison for forcing schoolboys to lie naked across a...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
