[linda_22003]

Or consider M.R. James, remembering a tough master's dressing-down to a student in Ancient Greek class, in 1875:

"A boy who construes 'de' *and* instead of 'de' *but* at sixteen years of age, is guilty not merely of folly, and ignorance, and dulness inconceivable, but of crime, of deadly crime, of filial ingratitude which I tremble to contemplate!"

You can picture the whack of the stick on the desk during that tirade. James notes laconically (in his memoirs, "Eton and King's") "It was bad policy, for it unnerved one for further efforts."

[George W. Bush]

James notes laconically (in his memoirs, "Eton and King's") "It was bad policy, for it unnerved one for further efforts."

I think the case has been made before that it was the undoing of the British upper class. Carelessness in childrearing. Today, we have a different kind running rampant.

[AnAmericanMother]

I had a German riding instructor like that.

Surprisingly, I learned a great deal. I never took it personally . . . he was just the way he was, like thunder is loud and lightning unselective.