I missed out on this kind of thing happening by a few years, but there were teachers still teaching who had doled out this kind of punishment.

nowadays I can't even imagine it. if any teacher whacked one of my kids with a stick I'd be straight up the school to kick their arse.
I don't think school kids are any worse behaved these days despite this kind of punishment being taken away, in my experience kids today are a lot more polite and sociable than I ever was as a grumpy teenager.