I can equate with some of that.

We were supposed to stand as Sir came in and sit down when he said so.  It depended on which "Sir" came in and what sort of mood he was in. One had a saying "Stand up, sit down, you're in, go and get me that book". "In" being in detention and "that book" was the detention book = stay behind after school on a Thursday. You knew there was going to be trouble if he came in with "that book" under his arm.

The thing is, all the teachers (all men) had degrees and some had a string of qualifications. They were far from perfect as people and some had an attitude but at least we learned how to read and write English well and to spell words properly, we learned how to do all the maths we were likely to meet up with in life, we also learned how to debate a subject, argue our corner (without it developing in to an exchange of abuse) and put forward our points in a proper manner. Speaking of "manner", we were expected to have excellent manners too.

I can see now where they were trying to lead us though I can't say I found it an enjoyable experience.