I was taught, in the early Sixties, by the FSC, the Christian Brothersk, the ones founded by Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, who are NOT the Irish Christian Brothers. We were hit (never with the hand!), yes, but we were never degraded and the punishments were handed out equally and without rancor. After the first year it was rare, more along the lines of slapping the teacher's desk with a meter stick to awaken the class than physical punishment. To kneel upon a triangular piece of wood or to duckwalk around the school perimeter would have been totally unacceptable. If any teacher had tried anything sexual with a student, well, the parents would have stepped in quite forcefully.

We always got a kick out of the rules, which forbade us from bringing dirks, poinards, swords, rapiers, firearms, or any other weapon to school -- a reflection of the state of French education in the 1600s, I guess.

I received a good education, made some friends I'm still in contact with, and I don't allow a Church to interfere with my Religion (such as it is).