Things you can learn from a spy novel! I have just found out from “Perfect Spy” by Le Carre that –
– true English privilege was obtained by harship, and that the best hardship was to be found at English boarding schools.
I didn’t realise that the point of boarding schools was to provide designer brand of hardship to the privileged 
As my husband would say, “Builds character…”
Designer hardship was certainly the underlying ethos of the English public school system – the privileged payed for it and were expected to learn from it. However, from my experience(I have to hold my hands up and acknowledge that I was one of the “privileged”), the boarding schools referred to by Le Carre have changed beyond recognition from those seen in Tom Brown’s School Days and “If”. CP was banned halfway through my time at school and I could hardly describe my experiences as a hardship.
My partner, Jo, does (in her more foolhardy moments) likes to tease me with all the cliches. As I’m sure she’ll admit though, some of those experiences have come in very useful in the context of the kink.
By the way Haron, they are quite strict about spelling at boarding school….
Love the blog. This is my first post but I hope that Jo & I will post plenty more.
I happened to come across comments about CP from 1937 using a similar argument – only the “lower classes” complained about CP they said; the “upper classes” had no argument with it, recognizing that CP helped to mould the students to become the leaders of tomorrow.
Future leaders, LOL, that was in the mission statement of my university – future leaders of the region. No CP, though.
Hello all. We were away for the official de-lurk day, so here we are now. The idle fruits of a whole week off work!
For the record, I (Jo) definitely did not go to public school, but despite (or because of?) an entrenched ideological distaste for the whole business, I DO like playing it. Although I am sure that I get rather more disciplinary activity than is strictly authentic. Or indeed warranted, as I am extremely well behaved and studious…
PS Jamie, weren’t they strict about grammar too, darling?
Welcome to the blog, Jo and Jamie, awesome to have you here
Not sure where the whole public school obsession comes from, but I’ve certainly got the bug. (With all the extra disciplinary activity, of course.)
I’m not sure it’s a class thing, mind. From what I read, many state schools were just as ready to crack down on misbehaviour.
Rob: now that’s what I call a startle. Where on earth was that? (Unless “happening” upon the 1937 discussion involved typing selective words into Google?!)
Meanwhile Jamie’s first-ever comment manages to make me feel old: cp wasn’t outlawed until just *after* *I* left school! Although I was never on the receiving end, and share the “distaste” Jo mentions for the whole thing, many of my later kinky imaginings do draw from the culture of the cane that was around at the time.
Abel, wondering whether Jo’s comments about good behaviour are strictly accurate…!
I am certainly with Abel on the cane thing, although I’ve never been around it in the school context. Funny how that came to be. I bet it’s similar for Haron who must have gone to the same type of school I did. (Did you ever wear a young pioneer tie, Haron? Till maybe grade 6?)
Haron, how did you get to be into caning and such and Western school style CP? It seems you were into that sort of thing before you met Abel.
Absolutely, Amber, I was a young pioneer for a year, until grade 5, though strangely enough, nobody has asked me to wear the uniform yet 😉
I’ve no idea where the cane thing comes from. I blame reading Dickens and watching British movies!
Abel: It was a while ago, and yes I must have googled something about the cane – they were letters to a newspaper from 1937. A headmistress wrote in and said she simply couldn’t do her job without its use; others wrote in on the “class” argument. At least one letter stated that only the lower classes objected to its use whilst the upper classes recognized it as an essential tool for instilling the discipline required to be a leader. It was assumed that its use was widespread; they were comments attempting to put down any criticism of use of the cane in schools. It was assumed that the dissent was coming from those of the “lower classes” (PS Apologies for sloppy research – bloody hell, I only read them for about 20 seconds in passing one day – I suppose that is a spankable offence too!!!)
I see, Haron. I never read Dickens, strangely enough. I think I’ve learnt about the cane and its use in kinky context from looking at kinky websites and also reading kinky stories. Which makes it – only some months ago. Call me a late bloomer.
By the way, I’d like to experience a different kind of cane – what I have is 5mm or maybe 6mm – very whippy (I love it), but I think I am ready to try something else. I was thinking something which has more of a weight and more of a heavy “thud” type of effect rather than “swoosh.” I wonder if you guys could recommend what thickness would be a good one for this purpose?