Alanabit -it was the norm and it was standard throughout education. Had the standard, and people's standards, remained in place yes, they would have accepted their punishment as we had to - 'like a man' as the saying goes - because to do otherwise was viewed by all (teachers, punishees, students (or 'pupils' as we were called then) and parents alike) as totally unacceptable. It's Pavlov's Dog, it's action and consequence, and it was trained into us.

When the know-it-all-liberal-do-gooders deliberately kicked the rug out from beneath the teachers' feet by banning corporal punishment, (and BTW encouraging students to challenge authority) they announced to the would-be-thugs and barrack-room lawyers that they could behave any way they wanted. Some of us predicted where it would lead and, as usual, we were told by these head-up-own-arse-pseudo-intellectuals that we didn't understand and were old-fashioned and inhumane. They believed their own bullshit. Sorry to have to say it but here goes - "I TOLD YOU SO".

We had students who were big guys back then, and who were very capable in the fisticuffs department. They might well punch another kid's lights out, but they just didn't take a poke at a teacher because they simply daren't.
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