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Is 'assault' a better term than 'abuse' ? There were probably a small core of nasties who gave other people a dubious kind of permission to behave in a similar way and it became normalized among staff and students. If the rules are enforced through respect and some kind of consent then that's okay but the situation you describe is such that the rules were enforced by institutionalized bullying and by coercion and fear which ... history lesson ... doesn't work.

Sadly, abuse is such a common term these days that unless sexual abuse or verbal abuse is specified I tend to think of violence.

Ah, the tawse. We just called it the belt. Kept your hands warm, though, if you managed to earn it just before double PE outside on a bitter December morning

Some of them were fine. But the older ones tended to need the threat of violence, or violence itself, to gain respect (read fear), while others treated you as human beings and got your respect without resorting to the punitive path.

Memory is a great thing. It can bring back all sorts of feelings with the intensity you felt at the time---humiliation is the perfect example. But fortunately, we never remember the pain we felt at the time. We know there was some, but it's a shadow now.

Everyone mellows with age

This sketch sums up school to a tee....ruling by fear
belongs in the 19th century not the 20th
We humans are slow learners

I can still recall in the 80s how people were promoted by AGE...bizarre

I remember that sketch only too well.

A very scary moment at school was when the boys got a medical. Class by class, we'd head off to the room where a woman doctor was waiting to administer the cup and cough test, to ascertain whether or not our balls had dropped. While you were waiting outside the little worm of terror was gnawing away at my brain: "You'll get an erection, you'll get an erection. Everyone will know, and everyone will laugh at you."

Finally, the time arrived. My turn.

Needn't have worried----her bum fluff moustache was more luxuriant than mine.