Very well written story! At my school, a leather strap was used to punish us. Although I believe some teachers were simply sadistic, using any excuse to show their power over us, I don't believe the punishment itself caused any lasting harm to any of us. What did the damage was the frivolous use of the punishment. For example, I loved history and still do. However, after being used as an example by a sadistic teacher for forgetting the day a piece of homework was due, I dropped history classes the following year!