We no-longer have corporal punishment in schools (it was stopped in State Schools in 1987). Yet, it wasn't that long ago when rulers were used on the hands to stop pupils from writing with their left hands.
The cane was used to deliver 'six of the best', although usually for really bad or repeatedly bad behaviour.
Other methods of punishment included writing lines (copying out a line hundreds of time, ensuring excellent penmanship); or being made to wear the 'Dunce's Hat' and sit in the corner of the classroom; and then there was detention...
In Joseph Lancaster's Monitorial Schoolrooms, punishments were deemed necessary to 'control' a room full of a few hundred boys but only one teacher. He didn't go in for corporal punishment, which was unusual for the early 1800s. Instead he suggested that poorly-behaved pupils had to walk around the schoolroom, perhaps shackled together, until they were tired out.
The collection at the British Schools Museum includes canes, examples of lines and paddles used for corporal punishment.
