Even the Brothers who taught well, and were liked by their students, used the strap or the ruler turned on its edge. The reasons for this were that classes grew larger and more difficult to handle, staff changes brought Brothers who were less attuned to the friendly spirit of the pioneering years, and people in most schools then saw corporal punishment as an indispensable part of education, especially that of boys. The fact that it was frequently used on members of the class who could not understand their work, or who had limited ability, is hard to explain or to excuse.