I'm not a parent and may never be. Who knows. But if I did have kids and anybody laid a hand on them, I'd see them in court.
Kids are out of control now, sure, but only spanked kids can learn to behave? Teaching is a hard job, but it is a chosen profession and it has been obvious that the behavior from students is getting worse. It's something that has to be dealt with calmly. Well, I don't think teachers should have to deal with it at all b/c it's the parents' job, but that's a whole 'nother thing.
Bottom line is, we can assign it names like spanking, corporal punishment, etc., but it's hitting. So a child that hits somebody...what to do them to make them stop? Hit them while saying hitting is wrong??? No thanks.