I remember a teacher in high school throwing a textbook at a student that wasn't paying attention. He paid attention after that. I suppose times and approaches to teaching have changed.
Sometimes, students recognize the barriers around them and exploit them to their fullest potential. One student pays attention after getting the book thrown at them, another observes how the teacher aimed for the floor and tests their patience because they know they won't get hit no matter how many times they zone-out. It's disappointingly easy to bait educators into disproportionate escalation, in my problem-child experience.
The lesson you learned from this experience was that the adult was being childish?
The lesson I learned is that if you beat certain people at their own game they will never let you live it down. Whether I was dysfunctional or not, their response didn't work and they refused to renege after months of failure. They failed as a teacher, when I hadn't failed as a student.
I dont think you can enhance learning thru fear, there is no way that you get people to be more engaged and retain information presented in that environment.