Hmmmm, I wonder!!

This photo intrigues me for a number of reasons. They are probably teachers, probably in the U.S, probably in the 1950s. Well, straight away that ticks all the boxes for me. They appear also to be little older than the seniors they may be teaching.

They are obviously amused ( or titillated ) by something or by someone. Has the normally obvious behaviour of the attention-seeking class clown finally produced a moment worthy of his moniker? Has the bully come a cropper at the hands of the weedy kid? Has the nauseating sycophant been embarassed by his exasperated classmates? Has the bad boy, that brooding, defiant misanthrope elicited in them reversion to girlish excitement as they see in him an alternative to their own pastel, neutered existence. Who knows?

The one on the left is holding what in all likelihood is a blackboard pointer. It could be a cane but if we accept our original postulate that it is a U.S photo, then that is unlikely. Although she could still use it in the vicinity of the disobedient if warranted, I suspect it would be a wooden paddle that she would remove from her desk drawer suggestively to quell any sign of mutiny. What do you think?

Whatever the truth behind the photo, I can easily imagine being sat in the classroom before them, my mind firmly set on another Teacher Slaying ;)