Honestly, I didn't see anything wrong with it as a kid.....It was a time where if you did wrong, adults could hurt you.......While I can't see me being cool with someone swatting my son or daughter with a plank of wood, the reality is your parents were ok with it.
There was always lore behind which teaches gave the worst paddlings and which teachers had the boards basically kitted out for maximum pain.......And it wasn't just the teachers who seemed sadistic at this time, your friends would all line up to listen to you get your ass lit up in the hallway.......It's kinda funny to me now, that there was a time when it was cool to beat kids into submission.......What happened that it was finally taken away....I mean I know some parents got trigged by the concept and eventually it was taken out of public schools (I think some private schools can still get away with it) but was there and glaring instances of abuse that led to it's removal.
On the down side, I thinks kids may be worse because teachers have to coddle them now, and kids like to shoot shit up now, but boy do I remember getting my ass waxed so many times back in the day.
But the question really is, did you grow up with this.