The Exercise
by Bernard MacLaverty (excerpt)
"A barman!" Waldo mimicked and the class roared loudly.
"Quiet." He wheeled on them. "You, Sweeny. Come out here." He reached inside the breast of his soutane and with a flourish produced a thin yellow cane, whipping it back and forth, testing it.
Kevin walked out to the front of the class, his face fiery red, the blood throbbing in his ears. He held out his hand. Waldo raised it higher, more to his liking, with the tip of the cane touching the underside of the upturned palm. He held it there for some time.
"If your brilliant father continues to do your homework for you, Sweeny, you'll end up a barman yourself." Then he whipped the cane down expertly across the tips of his fingers and again just as the blood began to surge back into them. Each time the cane in its follow-through cracked loudly against the skirts of his soutane.
"You could have made a better job of it yourself. Other hand." The same ritual of raising and lowering the left hand with the tip of the cane to the desired height. "After all, I have taught you some Latin." Crack. "It would be hard to do any worse."
Kevin went back to his place resisting a desire to hug his hands under his armpits and stumbled on a schoolbag jutting into the aisle as he pushed into his desk. Again Waldo looked round the class and said, "Now we’ll have it right from someone."
The class continued and Kevin nursed his fingers, out of the fray.
Instructions:Select the correct answers.
Select the subject and theme of the passage.
Theme: Priests do not make good teachers.
Theme: Physical punishment is not only painful but also humiliating.
Subject: A young boy does his homework but gets it wrong.
Theme: Corporal punishment is always necessary to maintain discipline.
Subject: A young boy is ridiculed by his friends because of his low status.

In this passage, we encounter a young boy who says that he has done his homework. However, it is implied that the homework is wrong ("Now we’ll have it right from someone"). It seems like the boy's father, who is a barman, did the homework for him. Because of this mistake, the boy is physically punished, while the teacher and the students make fun of his father's background. This supports the theme that physical punishment is not only painful, but also humiliating.