My 90 YO aunt was a teacher for years, and was once assigned an unruly class that no other teacher wanted. On the first day, she walked in, laid a 2' paddle on her desk, and introduced herself. Didn't have to tell the kids what the paddle was for... they knew. Says she never had a lick of trouble with them.
My big fear while in school wasn't of the teachers, although I did respect them, it was that they would tell my Dad whatever I had done, and he'd take care of it. That's one of the big problems today I believe. The parents aren't backing the teachers, aren't truly parenting at home. It's nice that they believe their child and support him/her, but they're being very naive when they do.