They were completely floored when I told them about corporal punishment practices that were in place when I was a kid. They thought that we were getting swatted every day and didn’t understand how little the paddle was actually used. It was the threat of the swats that kept us in line. No such threat exists now, and as a consequence the kids that come into my classes now are considerably behind where I was at the same age level because teachers have to spend such a huge percentage of teaching time dealing with discipline issues.
Couple this with the fact that in Texas, new student learning expectations were put on 5th graders this year that weren’t previously taught until kids were in the 7th grade, and the kids are getting even farther behind.
Time was that if you got in trouble at school, you also got in trouble at home for causing trouble at school. Nowadays, school officalsnare not allowed to touch a student, otherwise be charged with assault themselves. And these kids know it so they push boundaries which kids would never have dared to do decades ago. That is part of the reason we have so many discipline problems in schools today.