A ton of cultures do, unfortunately. That said, it's also just bad parenting because (1) kids model behavior, so they will "punish" other kids physically and (2) punishment is one of the least effective forms of power, often producing public compliance but not private acceptance.

Just an fyi in case you need that in you back pocket when someone tries to argue in favor of hitting kids.

The vast majority of people still believe in archaic and draconic bullshit because it is "tradition", even to the point of ignoring all scientific evidence supporting the contrary perspective.

I was visiting the head office of a California-based company that I worked for, and my colleagues (mostly left-leaning) were moaning about a proposal to make it illegal to hit children. After 15 minutes I couldn't keep my mouth shut and said, "I think a society should protect those least able to protect themselves." There was a lot of backpedaling, but also a few people explaining how it was totally necessary that they hit their children for reasons.

I didn't have children at the time, but my step-daughter (now 20) and son (now 17) were never punished with violence, so it is possible for sure.

I think we should start hitting these people if they misbehave. After all they think it's the right thing to do.

NB: This is not meant seriously, I don't condone hitting anyone.

I can sort of understand the logic, even if I disagree with it:

If a child does something that could potentially have lethal consequences, a verbal warning might not be enough for them to understand the severity of what they did.

That is, of course, the only reasonable situation I can think of in which spanking is acceptable.