Corporal Punishment
I love the film Kes (1969). It was still modern when I went to secondary school, nearly ten years later - some local authorities were still trying to get it banned when I was teaching in the 90s, and it’s still modern now. This scene, where the poor messenger boy from the second form gets beaten seems really resonant.
They had CP at my school back then and I don’t believe it made any difference to anyone’s behaviour. I don’t believe it did anyone any good. I remain undecided as to whether it did us any harm, but that’s a moot point, really. As the headteacher in the clip says, he’ll be beating them week after week with no evident impact. As the story goes, Ken Loach, who always uses improvisational techniques with his normally untrained actors, didn’t tell the boys that they’d be properly caned, hence their very realistic reactions.
PS: I bookmarked this link to the fantastically funny football scene in Kes with the much-missed Brian Glover a few weeks ago.