RE: It starts with you, the teacher: Tips for motivating students.
I was caned on a regular basis by our headmaster, secondary school - a man with a doctor's degree in education, as he could not find a more suitable way for getting me to perform as well as my ed-lab chart indicated I should...with absolutely no positive effect of course.
Why his education did not guide him to analyze my case down to the cause and apply remedy there, I never really understood, even in my adult life. There were understanding teachers and I performed reasonably well under their inspiring attitudes. I suppose a divided camp must have existed amongst the teachers, some sharing the views of the headmaster and some with more common sense, for all did most certainly not instill enthusiasm for their subjects in me.
Maybe studying under a headmaster like @alvinauh would have had a dramatic effect on the remainder of my life as well!
Caning also stopped during my high school times.
As many very wise proverbs and even real life examples led to,
If you want to discipline (with the light saber), you got to do it before 12 years old
Not that I advocate caning as in child abuse, but children under 12 does require strict guidance, which at the same time, can be a tool to brain wash as well for the conspiracy theorists statement.
But once one crosses 12 years old, they are able to think, justify, seek clarification; and at that time, the cane / forced doctrine will not work.
I was not caned during my highschool but my physics teacher has shunt me out of his class most of the time with very negative comments that I "will never be able to learn maths"
While on the other hand, I was an only 4/100 marked modern maths student, and my modern maths teacher, made me sit right opposite his desk every time we had math's class, and taught me how to do maths personally with 100 problems to solve in a week.
I can't say I am a math expert now, but I got from fail to high credit in my final government assessment exam (as we call it SPM); while I totally dropped physics and never looked back although I wanted to be an architect.