JOHN BULL'S SCHOOLDAYS SIR,---Surely all your correspondents have over- looked
one aspect of the `no sneaking' principle— the right of appeal to authority for protection against secret bullying?
I remember my father telling me many ghastly stories of his schooldays, including one of a small boy who was held in front of a hot fire until his shins were so badly burned that he died. Another favourite pastime was for a group of bullies to shut a small boy in a wooden chest, then sit on it and drum with their heels until the child was dazed and half-suffocated.
`Sneaking' was taboo in this school (and indeed in all others at that time), which meant that if the victims sought protection by appealing to the staff they would not only be rebuffed, but would have it `taken out of them' later with worse tortures. As a rule these children could not even complain to their parents without being advised `not to tell tales.'
It seems to me that a rigid line should be drawn between 'sneaking' about other people's affairs and seeking justice in one's own.—Yours faithfully,
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