It said the teacher apologised so it's evidently too far for them but I suppose the sheer fact that doing something like that even went through the teachers mind shows the culture diference. I don't think we should go that far, but I do think it'd do this country (UK) good if we were to bring back the cane. I say this from personal experiance - I was a daydreamer at school and I think, had I been caned, I would have got better degree and wouldn't have been kicked out of my first uni...
Recently a bill went hrough parliment to ban parents from smacking their kids. Mercifully it got voted down. Stil scary though...