There has been abusive school corporal punishment in various places and at various times, perhaps lots of it. But abusive CP was not universal. Children need and most want and accept boundaries with clear consequences when those boundaries are crossed. In my experience, boys prefer the boundaries to be far off and simple and the consequences emphatic rather than lots of petty restrictions and complex rules and formulaic penalties.
A colleague took his family, including teenagers, to the USA for a year. The kids thought the schools there were like prisons even though there was no CP, unlike at home.