"dunce" had become a synonym for "fool" or "dimwit". I am a fool, and a dunce; we'll idle out the day. Class clowns were frequently admonished with the dunce cap. A dunce is a person considered incapable of learning. She is taunted by her schoolmates who chant ""dummkopf"" ("dunce") at her. The dunce hat is contractible, but not collapsible. Sir Ector sends him a dunce cap, which transforms into Merlyn. However, Bertie cannot hear them because his dunce cap is stuck on his head. Winter picks up trash in an orange jumpsuit and dunce cap. They also wore a kind of dunce cap. The slang of "bobo, bubie", translates to "dunce". In modern pedagogy, punishments like dunce caps have fallen out of favor. Hogarth may have been more than sympathetic to the dunce struggling with his rhymes. He had to wear a dunce cap and was subjected to struggle sessions. The dunce cap is no longer used in modern education.