This is the best thread for information about the origin of the use of the paddle as an instrument of correction.  The diagrams have made that clearer.  It is convenient propaganda to say it a barbaric carryover of the paddle used for punishing slaves.  I say convenient because it is tempting to conclude that because it is used in southern states and more frequently on black pupils.  A school that is 99% black with an overwhelmingly black faculty, coaches and administration that requires parental consent is where some of those numbers are derived.

1901.

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn … 80%2C4393/

How effective of an instrument of correction would it be would be in proportion to its sturdiness.?

http://thenonist.com/images/uploads/hrnbk8.jpg

In 1622, in this case, the hornbook was  used as pedagogical device with an instrument of correction readily nearby.

http://thenonist.com/images/uploads/hrnbk11.jpg

Source of the images.

http://www.thenonist.com/index.php/then … _hornbook/

Making a paddle for an instrument correction as a chastening rod.

Chicago 1908

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn … 32%2C5150/

The following item was discovered and reported by American Way in another thread. The item was apparently first published in St Louis (Missouri), so presumably reports events there but of likely interest to readers in California. The concern is very much the desire not to leave marks on the skin to avoid complaint from parents rather than any concern about cruelty or wounds. This same concern about marks was a factor in the adoption of the paddle.
_______________________________________________________https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=II18870528.2.18
Inyo Independent (Independence, California), 28 May 1887, page 1.

SCIENTIFIC SPANKING.
Rubber Hose as a Substitute for the Disciplinary Rattan.

No one need tell me that the Negro race has no inventive powers. Our colored schools at times have been very unruly, and the teachers have often been obliged to resort to the rattan, which some of them wielded with telling effect, the superintendent of public schools being continually besieged by complaints from parents of the vigor which this instrument of correction had been applied to the sable cuticle of their offspring. Of late these complaints have ceased, while the discipline of the schools have greatly improved. Some of us who had no belief in the efficacy of moral suasion investigated the matter and discovered the cause of the change. Instead of the usual rattan the colored teachers had provided themselves with short sections of rubber hose, and as an implement to exhort the impenitent it was crowned with magnificent success. 

The youth to be reasoned with is laid across a chair and the preceptor proceeds to titillate his epidermis with the new implement of correction. The effect of this operation is to extract howls from the culprit far exceeding in energy any which responded to the gentle persuasion of the rattan, and to cause his ebon skin to blush like the morn. But within a short time after the application no trace of the punishment remained, and the suffering African was no longer able to touch the hearts of the School Board by an exhibition of the marks of correction upon his dusky person. Beyond a strong desire to partake of his frugal repast from the mantelpiece, no ill effects remained. This excellent mode of correction has been adopted by a number of teachers in our white schools, and the sensibilities of parents need no longer be shocked by viewing the marks of the rattan upon the tender cuticle of their erring offspring. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. 

I and others have noted the similarity of hornbooks and fraternity paddles and speculated about a possible connection.

American Way kindly drew attention to the following item in his post #853 above.  It mentions in passing the use of a hornbook derivative – a paddle with multiplication tables appended, as a punishment paddle for failure to learn. The author is a local historian from North Carolina.

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn … d-1/seq-4/
The Progressive Farmer (Winston NC) February 12, 1901, page 4
Written for The Progressive Farmer.

THE WORLD’S PROGRESS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
V. The Churches and Schools a Century Ago.

[. . . ]

In the early days schools were ruled by fear and not by love. They were few and far between. Books were hard to get, except the old Blue-back Spelling Book [authored by Noah Webster and first published in 1783], and everyone was expected to master it. At that time girls were not expected to know more than how to read the Bible and write a tolerably good hand; the large majority could neither read nor write. The State paid comparatively little attention to the education of the masses until the century was more than half gone, and even now the State stands about foot in the educational race. The old plan was a subscription school, then hunt for a teacher who would teach for the least money and use the rod on every occasion. It appears that the qualifications of a teacher were known by his skill in using the hickory. 

It was customary to have the multiplication table drawn off on paper and pasted on a paddle, so if the pupil did not have his lesson, the paddle was handy to impress it so thoroughly, he would not be apt to miss it again! It was seldom that a boy or girl ever got any praise for a well prepared lesson,
or for working a difficult problem in arithmetic, but think themselves fortunate to escape a reprimand, if not worse.  

[. . . ]

J. B Alexander, MD.
Mecklenburg Co , N. C.

Did paddling spread up and from the Mississippi River?

The following article was reported by American Way on Dec 30, 2019 in message #847 above. It contains a passing mention of a light pine paddle which may imply such implements were well known to readers. Unfortunately, as usual we are not told either the length or weight of the paddle which makes it impossible to judge how dangerous it was to 8-year-olds.

The Mississippi River was of major importance for communications carrying people, goods and ideas from and to the South, possibly including punishment paddles.
__________________________________________

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn … ed-1/seq-3
Omaha Daily Bee (Nebraska), December 15, 1896, Page 3

Council Bluffs Department [Council Bluffs is a city on the eastern bank of the Mississippi in Iowa opposite Omaha city]

EXONERATES SCHOOL TEACHERS.

Board of Education Hears Charges Against Certain Employees.
 
Superintendent Hisey and several of the members of the Board of Education met last evening in the office of Dr. Snyder, chairman of the teachers’ committee, for the purpose of investigating two or three complaints that had been made against the teachers of the Madison Avenue school, alleging that they had unduly punished pupils. The parents of some of the children were present and told their stories and were followed by the teachers, who gave in detail all of the information they possessed.
 
One case of alleged severe punishment was called to the attention of the board by a man named Kissell, who alleged that his 9-year-old daughter had been pinched on the arm by the teacher. Miss Landon. The injury was inflicted at the beginning of school and the friends of the child asserted that the marks were   still visible. Inquiry developed the fact that the child had received a fall while playing in Fairmount park and that the bruises on her arm were due to that. Miss Landon had given the little girl a vigorous shake one day in the presence of two of the others, and all were confident that it was utterly impossible for any injury to have been inflicted at that time.
 
Another case was of a boy named Kennedy, 8 years old, who was punished for running away from school. The instrument used was a light pine paddle four inches wide and one-quarter inch thick. The complaint was that the child had received twenty-four blows from this paddle. None of the teachers placed the number beyond six or seven and all said that the boy left the room laughing. Previous to receiving this punishment the boy’s mother had punished him very severely for the same offense, using a rawhide whip, but the teachers did not altogether believe the little fellow’s story that he had already been punished and gave him another dose.
 
The other case was that of a little boy named Wesley. It proved to be a case where the parents took umbrage at what they thought was the imputation that their boy had not told the truth about a trivial matter.
 
All of the cases were of such trivial nature that the superintendent and the members of the board who were present dismissed them without any further investigation. Mr. Kissell had consulted Assistant County Attorney Smith and had him present at the meeting with a view of bringing prosecutions if the facts warranted. At the conclusion the attorney informed Mr. Kissell that there were no grounds for prosecution and advised him to let the matter drop.