Maps showing religious affiliations and the incidence of school CP reveal a Baptist pro-school paddling  enclave in central Florida. (See my posting of Jul 02, 2018 #738, page 74 above.)

This enclave in the so-called “Heartland Region” of Florida, is made up of six inland, non-metropolitan counties — DeSoto, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Highlands, and Okeechobee with a total population of about 260,000.

Unlike the coastal areas to the east and west, rural Florida Heartland is culturally closer to the Deep South (or Greater Appalachia?) than the rest of peninsula Florida. It has been much less affected by recent migration and outside ideas than the coastal areas of the state.

The first European settlers were Scots-Irish who raised cattle (“crackers”). They had few slaves, fought Indians and tried to stay out of the Civil war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_cracker
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~crackerbarrel/Hardee21.html

Fathers are responsible for the nourishing, education and virtuous government of their wives and children, a philosophy ardently propounded by King James I of England who reigned 1603-25. It is this philosophy that is or was incorporated into some US school regulations as the kind and judicious parent standard for discipline and punishments.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_patriarchy

Ellison, C. G., & Sherkat, D. E. (1993).
Conservative Protestantism and support for corporal punishment.
American Sociological Review, 58(1), 131-144.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2096222

Abstract
Argues that the disproportionate support for corporal punishment among Conservative Protestants reflects the impact of 3 components of religious ideology:
(1) An acceptance of the doctrine of biblical literalism,
(2) The conviction that human nature (and hence the nature of young children) is inherently sinful, and
(3) The belief that human sin demands punishment.

These arguments are evaluated using data from 988 respondents from the 1988 General Social Survey [conducted for or by the US National Opinion Research Center, Chicago.] Ordinary least squares and structural equation models generally confirm the theoretical model presented. 

Black Protestants were particularly supportive of corporal punishment, and better educated respondents were less likely to support physical punishment for children. 

The findings invite further research into the impact of religious factors on parental values and practices.
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The above results from 1988, as summarized five years later, are in no way unexpected, insightful or useful except as a convenient statement of the obvious.

A problem with all surveys is obtaining a representative sample and ensuring the recorded answers are objective and truthful.  The less that is known about the nature and distribution of practices and beliefs being surveyed the greater is the problem of obtaining representative samples.  The sample or sub-sample (988 respondents) is tiny compared to the population of the USA, and the numbers who openly support spanking.

It is difficult to phrase survey questions in a way that is universally understood and answered by the diversity of respondents. Oftentimes complex questions must be simplified to generate manageable data. This is a problem with all surveys and opinion polls.

None of the above or any of my recent postings here explains why the paddle is favoured over other and arguably better implements.  The paddle’s ongoing use is explained but not its original choice as the preferred implement for home and school.

The availability of paddles and paddle-like implements, and the desire not to leave conspicuous marks on the skin, remain the top contenders for explaining the original choice.

I have suggested previously that parents have more influence on their local schools than in British tradition schools. The following recently published paper has just come to my notice.

Corporal Punishment: Current Rates from a National Survey [USA, 2014]
David Finkelhor, et al. (2019)

Abstract

Objectives To assess the prevalence of corporal punishment usage in the US population.

Methods This study was based on a 2014 cross-sectional, telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of US households with children. Reports about spanking of 0–9 year olds were obtained from parents, while reports about 10–17 year olds were obtained from the youth themselves.

Results The survey suggested that a majority of children in the US were not subject to corporal punishment in 2014. The rate was 49% in the past year for children ages 0–9, 23% for youth 10–17 and 37% overall.

Rates of spanking were lower for 

• girls compared to boys,
• Northeasterners compared to Southerners, and
• whites compared to blacks.

They were also lower among those with a graduate education, and families with fewer than 3 children. 

The proportion of children subject to corporal punishment had declined by 2014 compared to other national surveys conducted in 1975 and 1985. This is in line with other studies showing declines of 26–40% in the spanking of kindergarden age children from 1988 to 2011.

Conclusion The trends suggest a continuing reduction of spanking in the population. Because of growing research and advocacy about this practice both nationally and internationally, it may be that awareness is having some impact and it will continue to decline.

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1. An extraordinary number, nearly half of the children covered by the survey were spanked. Three and 4 year olds are especially at risk. The authors put a positive spin on their data.
2. Doubtless, the parental spankings ranged greatly from trivial and infrequent to severe and frequent.
3. An extraordinary number of older children, even 17 year olds, were spanked by their parents.
4. Schools likely reflect their communities attitudes and practices and may provide a useful benchmark as to what is acceptable in the communities they serve.

The paddle may have been chosen in preference to other less dangerous implements because it supposedly marked less.

Influential Dr L. O. Garber (1900-1986) of Illinois authored several school law handbooks for school administrators and teachers and published digests of court rulings on various matters.  He wrote the following in 1956:
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In the absence of a statute to the contrary, courts are agreed that the teacher stands in loco parentis, i.e. in the place of the parent, to the child. His authority extends only to those aspects of the child’s behavior which have an effect upon or are related to the teacher’s performance of his professional duties. [. . .]. It follows that a teacher may administer corporal punishment to any child under his tutelage who performs some act that has an adverse effect upon the attainment of the teacher’s and/or the school’s goals, in the absence of a statute forbidding it. [. . .] The teacher may administer corporal punishment for offenses that are not in violation of any particular rules and that are committed off school property, provided they have some direct bearing on the work of the school.

[. . .]

The courts, in numerous cases, have held that a spanking or switching that results in minor discoloration of the buttocks, back or legs for a brief period is not necessarily excessive, so as to make a teacher civilly liable in a suit for damages or criminally liable for assault and battery. Teachers, however, should not rely upon this fact. Some courts might well hold that “black and blue” marks are prima facie evidence of excessive punishment. Then, too, what appears to be minor discoloration to one judge or jury might well be considered major discoloration to another. If corporal punishment is to be used, it should be of the type that leaves no “tell tale” marks as evidence.

[. . .]
Lee O, Garber, Professor of Education, University of Pennsylvania.
“Corporal Punishment Must Be Justified,” The Nation’s Schools 57: 79-, June, 1956

Garber’s advice likely appears in other publications. His views doubtless influenced school administrators and teachers.  He may have accelerated if not triggered a move towards the  paddle in US schools.

Source of the Garber quote: http://hdl.handle.net/2027/coo.31924013085281