Paddled for an A-? Happened with me, too. Guess that's why I maintained a 4.0 all through high school and 3.8 in college. Although calculus really was my downfall.
I spent my first four years of school in a "convent school" in Munich, Germany. Very strict and the nuns scared me to death.
My mother did the paddling, my Dad just gave me "the look". I was more afraid of that "look" than my Mom's gentle hand.
We were in Germany right after WWII for the Berlin airlift and post war reconstruction. That, in itself, was quite an education. Right or wrong, my Dad took me through some of the Nazi death camps (Auschwitz and Dachau) before they were cleaned up. It took me years to get over the nightmares. But, I believe that experience made me the very fierce patriot that I am today.
IMHO, some of our young people need the same experience.
Yes I was. I was the oldest of 5 children and expected to be "the example." If we weren't paying attention, we had to hit our own hands with a wooden ruler until the nun heard the "sound" she wanted from the pain (ouch just thinking of it). She made the boys bend over and hold their ankles for a hard swat on the rear. She'd be in jail with today's rules. In those days, parent's didn't complain - they were thankful the teacher was teaching them obedience as well as ABCs.