I think there are two issues with discipline. In my Catholic grade school, the nuns ruled with an iron fist, and woe to you if you broke the rules. To give you an idea, I once got a detention for running in the halls. I was running because a lay teacher, one in a long line who did not appreciate my sense of humor, was chucking books at my head to chase me out of her room. BUT, the rules were different. Fighting was treated as what it was, young boys learning to stand up for themselves and find their place in the social order. You might get sent home, you for sure were going to get swatted, but that was the end of it. When my kids went to catholic school, the few fist fights that were discovered were treated as a huge deal, potential bullying, etc. Referrals get made to children’s services, counselors appear, letters get sent to the whole class, the whole deal. It is just a far different environment today.
And @cobrat, I am confident we went to very different high schools. My school was the last stop on the train. You couldn’t get expelled from there. In fact, a buddy of mine wanted to attend all five high schools in our city. He started at the Catholic school and didn’t last a semester. Then he made it about a year at another public. And then he ended up with us, and he couldn’t get expelled no matter what he did. It really bothered him. Weird dude.