Kay found herself in trouble recently, in a short but lovely scene. She’d taken her report card home in the week, and her guardian had been disappointed in her grades. She’d been told to expect to be punished at the weekend, in the usual way.
Said usual way wasn’t unduly severe: a hand spanking over the knee before bed, followed by six licks of the belt. But it was administered hard enough to make for a very sorry girl being tucked up under the duvet that night.
We then started speculating as to how such regimes might work. I’d imagine that a bright girl would be taking four A Levels, with “A” the highest grade for each. And most report cards also give a mark for effort: in my old school, “4” was the highest score for students applying themselves with the utmost diligence. We thought there’d be an extra score, too, for “Endeavour” – contribution to school life, conduct and so on.
The guardian would be an understanding man: he’d know he couldn’t expect perfection each time, even from such a good girl. So she would be allowed to drop three points in total, without fear of consequences. But any more? It would be one stroke for each and every point dropped – including those first three.
A4 A4 A3 A3 for her subjects, and a 4 for Endeavour. Safety.
B3 A4 A3 B3 and a 3? Six points dropped. Six strokes.
One imagines a girl’s hands shaking, as she opened her report card, and the swift mental calculations as to her fate. See how quickly you could do it:
- C2 A3 A4 B3 3
- A4 A4 A3 A4 3
- C2 B2 A3 A3 2
Fun, isn’t it?
And then, of course, there might be other girls who boarded throughout the term. Punishing them when grades were awarded might not therefore be feasible. But an email to her housemaster could easily be sent:
Dear Mr Jenkins,
I was most disappointed to see Kay’s relatively poor performance reflected in her report card this week.
I wonder if you might cane her for me, to impress on her the need to be more diligent in the weeks ahead?
With grateful thanks…
8
2
11
So, what’s my reward now? 😛
PS Sounds like a wonderful scene!
My head just swam looking at the numbers. I’m going to guess your calculations are correct. Knowing my math skills I’d be a very sore and sorry girl if I had to play out this scenario and likely in tears before a single stroke fell. I’m happy now I shredded my old report cards so they cannot be used against me. 😉
EM
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Ah yes, Anderson. Always a pleasure! I imagine your wondering why you were given a punishment pass and asked to report to the Headmaster’s office.”
“Yes, sir. Very much so, sir.”
“Quite right. You are aware that grades have come out? This matter has not escape your attention, I take it?”
“Yes, sir,” she said, genuinely confused. “But my grades were perfect, weren’t they?”
“Yes, they were. Quite perfect. Just like last term and the term before that and the term before that. Not much improvement there, is there Anderson?”
“I don’t understand, sir.”
“The rules clearly state that over any 10 quarters there must be some sign of improvement in at least 3 subject areas. Perfect scores each quarter mean no improvement, and no improvement means you get a jolly good thrashing.”
“But sir, that isn’t fair. I’ve never been in trouble. I’m a perfect student.”
“Not any more you’re not. In fact, you’ve just moved from the tawse to the cane for arguing. Would you like to double down?”
“No sir,” she said, defeated.
“Quite right. You’re a lovely girl, Anderson, with a nice round bottom, and it’s been something of a disappointment that I’ve never had a reason to cane you before.”
“Sorry to let you down, sir,” she said, staring at the rug like the naughty schoolgirl was.
“You’ll make up for it today. Skirt up, knickers down, touch your toes. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, Anderson, and I’ll brook no further delay.”
The Headmaster smiled as he picked up his trusty cane while Anderson assumed the shameful pose. Caning naughty girls was fun, but caning good girls was even better.