If my mother is reading this, I never got jacked, all this is absolutely hypothetical...
Human beings have a habit of trying to find patterns in chaotic data, and we were no different when it came to Jacks. There were many theories floated about the best way to take jacks, what hurt the least, and how best to recover. They ranged from keeping your pants tight across your buttocks (ostensibly to absorb some of the kinetic energy by the cotton fibers stretching, or something) to what underwear to wear (sometimes you knew you were getting jacked even before going to school).
The Principal, a Mr Gouldie, and the head of the english department, a Mr Watson, were the most feared of the teachers allowed to administer discipline by the timely application of pain. They both use a springy cane and could leave you unable to sit comfortably for hours if you got more than one or two lashes. What was worse was when Mr Watson gave you the choice to have him jack you, or get sent to the principal. It was a tough decision. Mr Watson gave much more painful punishment, but if you went to the principal, the punishment went on your record. Mostly we chose to take the more painful, but temporary punishment.
They also tended to give mass punishment, where an entire class or group would line up and then, one by one, would step forward, bend over, and experience activation of the pain receptors in their buttocks, usually a single shot.
We developed, by experimental evidence, and sound scientific and psychological theories, a theory of the best position to be in a line of boys getting caned. Going first had it's temptation, you got it over with fastest, and could get back to whatever behaviour that caused the problem long before anyone else had finished. Going last was also tempting. It had the disadvantage of anticipation, but the advantage that it was possible the teacher was tiring by the end of the line and you might not get hit as hard.
Experimental evidence disputed the last position hypothesis. It seems that caning does not require a large expenditure of energy, it appears to be mostly in the wrist. Experimentally, we found that going second resulted in the least pain, and going first was normally the most painful. This was verified in a number of clinical trials. It took us a while to formulate a good theory.
Our theory states that the first in line gets the brunt of the teachers frustration or anger. The teacher, realizing that he has gone a little overboard, possibly because of the expression on the face of unlucky #1, overcompensates for #2, giving them the lightest jack. Realising their mistake, possibly again due to the expression on the face of #2, they then settle down to a middle road approach for the rest of the students.
I have no idea what the teachers thought of the scuffles that would ensue when we were asked to line up for jacks. It must have been a bit counterintuitive to see kids coming forward eagerly when you were about to punish them.
