Not to take away shame from Florida–because they deserve it–but corporal punishment is still legal in 19 states, if this info is correct: Discipline in schools: What you should know about corporal punishment – 104.5 WOKV
I grew up in the 80s in rural PA, and I don’t know if it was legal there or not, but corporal punishment was used regardless. Even if it was illegal, anecdotal evidence (my friends’ parents) had no problem with their children getting hit in school “when they deserved it.”
There were no quotas, but teachers brought their own paddles. They were often customized. For example, the art teacher opted for a thick slab of cherry wood “for strength” (they would explain things like this to us when they threatened us), while the gym teacher traded surface area for speed by drilling holes in his. The punishers and punishees were overwhelmingly male, but there was a nontrivial number of female teachers who participated with glee. Offenses that merited a “paddling” (or a “crack,” as the teachers often referred to it) were completely arbitrary. I remember one instance in middle school (5th grade, probably) where a student got up in the cafeteria without permission, and the gym teacher hit him twice. It would have only been once, but the kid flinched, so she insisted on hitting him a second time, just to make sure he was completely in tears.
Good times, good times.
