avram your second half is on topic and possibly true
your first half though completely missed the mark
i said anecdotally it was common, ive heard it from many old timers and even when i was a child parents routinely slapped their children for all sorts of things, teachers hit and sometimes paddled even in non Jewish society
i just checked my drivers license, seems i cant honestly remember 150 years back
yet that which i wrote is from my own recollection
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