Are there studies to show that spanking is effective in that goal? If there is not convincing evidence that spanked children do better in school, then anything can be equally ineffective.

E.g. your question assumes that spanking is effective in making the kid well organized and well focused, but what if that simply does not happen?

I’m not a parent so I don’t think I have a super great understanding of which punishments are most effective, but ones I can think of:

- Taking away something that they like

- scolding them

- giving them a time-out

I’m not sure if they are as effective as spanking or not, but they can all be ways of turning long-term consequences into short-term ones, and I don’t think they are vilified the same way as spanking.

My point being that the violent part of spanking is what is frowned upon, not the making-consequences-immediate part.