I’ve just re-read my post from a little while back about a dream in which a prefect was one of the girls to be caned, and I’ve decided that maybe said young lady escaped too lightly.
See, to hold prefectorial office, a girl must be a truly outstanding pupil – her conduct no doubt impeccable, her disciplinary record over the years unblemished, her list of achievements impressive. She’d hold a position of significant authority within the school – a girl to which the younger students would look up. Someone to be respected, to provide inspiration. For one such to end up committing an offence so serious as to merit the cane: well, that would be the rarest of events. But when that did come to pass…?
Clearly, the punishment would need to reflect whatever she’d done – but more than that, it would need to reflect her betrayal of the trust that had been placed in her when she’d been appointed. And the other girls in the school would need to know that justice had been done, with no favouritism accorded to her because of her status.
The solution seems to be two-fold. First, as in my dream, the number of strokes would be doubled. But here’s what I think is the missing link: should a prefect need to be caned, the punishment would have to be administered in public, at morning assembly, by the headmaster (who’d appointed her to her post, and who had hence been the person most let down by her misconduct).
There’s a further debate about whether she should be removed from office – returned to the ranks, as it were. Deprefectised. There’d be those in the staff common room who’d presumably argue that this should be automatic – that their confidence in her was now broken, and that they (and indeed her fellow pupils) could no longer trust her. I’m inclined to be generous, and leave this to the headmaster’s discretion, depending on the nature of the offence. After all, I’d argue, it’s highly unlikely that a girl who’d just been made to touch her toes for a dozen or so strokes of the senior cane on the bare, in front of the assembled students and staff, would be minded to re-offend.
So not only does she get double, she gets them in public, on the bare, and yet there’s still talk of demoting her? That’s just wring!
Um, make that wrong. Bloody phone.
I’m with Eliane– that’s just wrong! For me, it’s the public shaming that would be too hard to imagine, not being stripped of office. But then again, I laughed the first time someone told me they had been Head Girl, as it certainly wasn’t a part of my school culture!
Might the now chastised Head Girl take her duties less seriously if left in office? Would she show any mercy to the other students for having felt the pain and humiliation of a public caning? If she remains, I would think that any hint of such lessening would result in another round of public caning, followed this time by removal from office. One cannot show undue mercy or lenience when molding souls, and enforcing behavioral norms.
See, Indy and Eliane, I’m on the girl’s side, having argued that she should keep her post! Kind, generous and forgiving, me…
I am now worried about what sort of Google traffic we’ll get once Indy’s comment shows up on their rankings – ‘school girl stripped public head’, anyone?
@Mitch – nice thoughts, but I think she’d become even more diligent in her duties, sending more girls for punishment than she’d done before… (Actually, makes me wonder whether she’d need to send girls to the staff to receive corporal punishment, or whether as Head Girl she’d have a slipper to use…?)
I’m with Eliane. That’s just wring!
Probably she should not automatically be demoted. I think she needs a trial. Maybe a jury of her co-prefects needs to decide.
I’m sure that Google search works now, Abel… Do let us know how many readers you land that way!
@Rick: The Americans would call this impeachment, which I think is a fitting analogy because any involvement of the head girl’s peers would be inherently political.
Would the head girl’s enemies among the prefects, particularly those who feel they were unjustly passed over for the top job, be able to cobble together a coalition to remove her? Would the head girl still have enough friends left to prevent the 2/3 majority necessary to remove her? Would students who the head girl had sent for punishment (or punished herself) exert pressure on their peers? Would the Headmaster simply stack the deck to get the result he wanted?
The possibilities are endless, and the only downside is that every time I think of impeachment I’m reminded of Monica Lewinsky.
@iwasrobert- Ahh! That sounds exactly like the kind of boring politics that would indeed happen here in the States. LOL.
Surprisingly, I hadn’t thought of Monica Lewinsky and that whole incident in a long time till now. I guess it is just a topic that doesn’t come up much anymore. Thank goodness. After all Bill Clinton was two presidents ago.