[CobaltBlue]

I was born in 1952 and never experienced anything like that.

Further, my mother was born in 1935, and didn't either.

In other words, it's made up.

[madrastex]

I graduated from a boarding school in 1964, and,believe me, this is accurate!!

[jocko12]

YOU TELLING ME THE KIDS ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN SOMETHING!!!!

[GovernmentShrinker]

My aren't you the expert. I was born in 1961 and spent 6th grade at a U.S. private school which, while not as strict as this one, did drill us endlessly on grammar and diagramming sentences, and made us line up for inspection at the end of each day, to make sure all our uniforms were tidy with shirts tucked in, before we boarded buses for home. There was a formal system of demerits, and one kid was expelled mid-year after accumulating too many (he never did anything more serious than make faux farting noises during class).

My boss' daughter, now an undergraduate at the Univ. of Chicago, spent 7th and 8th grade at a very strict New England boarding school. My favorite rule was the strictly enforced "no going to the bathroom after lights out". "After the first few days, they all learn not to drink too much near bedtime", my boss explained.

My uncle was a principal at a public high school in Florida in the 1940s and 1950s, and used a wooden paddle regularly on his male students. It seemed to be the main thing they remembered him for, as he had a sizeable collection of paddles with flattering inscriptions, received as gifts from reunion classes.

[CONSERVE]

This is from england.