I don't think anyone thinks that taking a cane and beating children was a good idea. Read Roald Dahls book BOY if you think so. It was cruel.
But you had an education system who went from using corporal punishment as a deterent to using nothing- snap... just like that. There wasn't a process to it. There wasn't an alternative introduced. So now you have a whole generation of parents who are clueless- who think the school discipline should stay in the schools. And don't want to involve themselves.
We had caning. My fourth grade teacher used a 6-foot bamboo (this was in the Philippines) so as to do three boys at a time. Into efficiency she was.
We also had pinching and slapping with rulers.
It worked for us. I support it.
It sounds as though they're raising a bunch of spoiled brats over there.When a parent allows a child to do what he wants when he wants he is creating a monster.If they want to stop their kids from acting like fools they better grow a backbone.The consequences for this type of behavior has to be severe enough to deter the kids from doing it.Right now there is no punishment or it's too inadequate to make the kids think twice before acting up.It's better to teach them this now before they become adults and end up in prison.