My husband went to elementary school in small-town Eastern Ontario in the 1940s. He tells me that there were many occasions when his teachers gave him “the strap.” Lots of kids were punished or disciplined that way, in those days. There was no escaping it, because school attendance was compulsory. If they had tried to skip school, a truant officer would have rounded them up and dragged them there.
By modern standards, my husband and his classmates were physically abused. Should they now be getting an apology from the government, and perhaps some compensation?