In "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," how did Ichabod Crane treat his students?

According to the story, Ichabod Crane was a stern teacher, but a fair one, at least by the standards of those days.

Remember that in those days, it was assumed that teachers would hit their students a lot.  They would hit them when the misbehaved, but also, pretty often, when they made mistakes.

We are told that Ichabod really believed in the idea of "spare the rod and spoil the child."  We are told that his students were definitely not spoiled, which means he used the rod on them a lot.

Outside of school, he was also kinds to his students, being friendly with the older ones and helping the younger ones home (although he was doing this, in part, to get fed, or to meet their sisters...)

But it also says that he was somewhat kind.  He wouldn't beat on the kids who couldn't take it -- just on the stronger kids who weren't so afraid of being hit.