Yes, it isn't just Catholic schools. I and others in my class had the misfortune of having several abusive teachers throughout grade and high school but especially grade (sorry, elementary) school. Remember the Little Rascals and the teacher w/her hair pulled back in a tight bun, black rimmed glasses, long dresses and 'grandma' shoes? I had several teachers like that and just as mean as they were unattractive. They all, w/o exception, hit their students, sometimes on the fanny, sometimes w/a pointer, yardstick or paddle, sometimes on the back of the head w/the hand but most times they'd come up behind us and box our ears. There was also a lot of hair pulling, especially of the girls. As a result, not a few kids wound up w/hearing problems. One teacher loved to hit kids across the knuckles w/a ruler or a deck of cards. Screaming at kids until we were nervous wrecks was nearly a daily occurrence. On top of that, girls had their skirts measured to be sure that they weren't too short, boys always had to have shirts tucked in, no jeans or Tshirts or hair ornaments were allowed. Girls were taught to curtsy, boys to bow and we'd better not forget. We were taught manners, how to dance the waltz and square dance, table manners and all of the old songs that most kids would never recognize today. No point in telling parents; they'd just say 'if you get in trouble in school, you'll be in worse trouble when you get home'. Then when we reached high school, we had to dodge the teachers who were gropers. (Sexy Sam the Science Man comes to mind. God help a girl if she went into the ladies room alone.)

I made up my mind when I had my son that no one was going to mistreat him and get away w/it, not a teacher, not a school mate, not a play mate, nobody. Hurt my kid and you're in deep doo doo. I made mistakes as a parent, to be sure, but it wasn't for lack of trying to do the right thing. If a teacher stepped beyond his/her boundaries and tried to take over my role as parent, s/he regretted it. I didn't tolerate any nonsense from my son and he knew better than to misbehave in school. If he did anyhow and he 'fessed up to it, he apologized to the teacher, accepted reasonable punishment/consequences from the teacher and then I handled it at home but those occasions were rare. Usually it was b/c he couldn't stop talking and fidgeting and so earned the nickname Jitterbug. He's still that way and he's the love of my life.

If kids learn at home what is appropriate and what isn't, if/when they encounter abuse of any kind at school or elsewhere, it'll be much easier for them to go to their parents about it, especially if they know that they're loved, respected and will not be ridiculed, laughed at or dismissed at home.