I was only beaten once at school.
I did see boys being beaten, at assembly, cane on the bottom.
I was also well aware of canings given to my girlfriends on their hands (or again with the slipper).
I found the occurrence of CP to myself or others quite stressful, but on reflection somewhat less so once I had had a similar formal punishment.
One observation that supports this effect comes from a woman friend of mine (similar age) who as a girl went to school in Hong Kong.
She was caned quite severely and formally on two occasions on the hands.
The first time she was really terrified and got the shakes (she describes to this day as ‘literally quaking with fear’) plus other fairly obvious involuntary physical symptoms of justified fear.
The second time, although actually expecting to be more severely punished, she did not suffer anywhere near the same level of the fear reaction.