I was surprised to learn recently that corporal punishment wasn't banned in British state schools until 1987, and in private schools until 1999.
"Surprised" because by 1999 I'd been attending a British private school for several years and corporal punishment certainly didn't exist at my school, or at any school I knew about. Apparently it was permitted on paper though. I'm not sure how common it still was, if it existed at all.
In any case, the worst treatment I received at school was never from the staff and always from the other boys. I can definitely think of some behaviour I saw from pupils back in the day that I'm sure wouldn't be tolerated for a second these days.
In the US, I have relatives that were locked in closets by teachers and had their knuckles rapped for using their left hands.
A combination of factors (cameras and modern communications systems being two significant ones) have shone a lot of light into what used to be very dark corners.
"Surprised" because by 1999 I'd been attending a British private school for several years and corporal punishment certainly didn't exist at my school, or at any school I knew about. Apparently it was permitted on paper though. I'm not sure how common it still was, if it existed at all.
In any case, the worst treatment I received at school was never from the staff and always from the other boys. I can definitely think of some behaviour I saw from pupils back in the day that I'm sure wouldn't be tolerated for a second these days.