A friend of mind claimed to have experienced a mass execution — a teacher had demanded that someone own up to some terrible crime (vandalizing a piece of classroom equipment; when no culprit came forward, the whole class got their hands caned. They didn’t have to queue up; the teacher walked around the class; when he came to your desk, you had to stand up and hold your hand out. The boys were specifically told to hold out the hand that they didn’t write with. My friend claimed to be able to write equally well with both hands; the teacher asked which he would rather take it on; he said he didn’t know, so the teacher told him to hold out his left hand. This has always seemed to me to be particulularly sadistic: having a calm, cold-blooded conversation with someone who is just about to hurt you about how you want them to do it.