Perhaps you never had nuns as teachers? To be honest, some were horrific disciplinarians and some were extremely nice. On the horrific side, many of them use to make us place our hands on our desks "when we were bad" and rap them with a yard stick (and not the shitty, thin ones they sell today ... these were the thick, solid wood ones). There was one nun in particular who I think really got off on delivering punishment. When she hit our hands, she used the side (or edge) and swang from above the shoulder line. Man, that hurt and often left marks/welts. I think they were of the mind ... No blood - no foul.