Three teachers at my school were known as "Brickbasher" "Killer" and "Gnat"
I have personally seen "Brickbasher" pick up a boy by the ankles, shake him until money fell from his pockets and rob him of the price of a torn book.
I saw "Killer" discipline a boy for talking. He said " I'm not going to hit you Rydings, hit yourself" After the boy had hit himself across the face a couple of times Killer said "No, like this" and delivered a massive slap across the boy's face.
"Gnat" had a special trick for a new class. He would leave a charged Leyden jar (capacitor) holding 30000 volts on a laboratory bench knowing boys touch things. When he came into the lab he would test the jar with an electroscope (it always showed no charge)
Then he would say "I wonder who got that one"
I'm 63 now and it seems to me that the only thing that has changed in schools in terms of violence is the balance of power.
