Some teachers thought that corporal punishment was fun. Thats the opinion of someone writing on the Friends Reunited site. As we well know, there were teachers who savagely beat their pupils, but others obviously hit them just for fun.
I have seen secondary school pupils given just one whack of the slipper. This could hardly be described as punishment. Why then did the teachers do it? To humiliate the pupil? To provide entertainment for the rest of the class? Because they liked seeing children in a provocative and submissive position?