Static Discharge, it may be true that the total number of spin accidents was higher with spin training included in the syllabus, but I don't believe phrases like:
"There is no need to risk life, limb and aircraft by practicing spins"
help the situation. With all respect to your superlative flying experience, I'm sure you'll agree with me that spinning an aircraft is not risking life and limb - it's a maneouvre in which the pilot is in complete control of the aircraft at all times.
I put it to you that if simulated engine failures were removed from training there would be fewer accidents during training due to carb icing, poor student judgement, poor instructor awareness, increased probability of mechanical failure etc... But no one would suggest removing that essential training from the syllabus.
I don't live in fear of my engine quitting every time I go up as I feel conident I'd know how to deal with it through my regular practice. Unfortunately I believe a lot of pilots live in fear of spins through their own lack of confidence in knowing what will happen and what they should do about it.
You would have to be flying a pretty funky aircraft to get into an unrecoverable spin. Most training aircraft are by no means funky. I hypothesise that the increased accident rate during spin training is due to poor instructors failing to take the appropriate action during a student's botched recovery, or allowing insufficient height for such an occasion.
Getting to a situation in normal flight past the sloppy controls, past the light buffet, past the heavy buffet, and most probably past the stall warner, then grossly mishandling the aircraft in the recovery is a remote possibility, but so is an engine out and how much weighting is there on that in any training syllabus?
I also believe spin training greatly hones handling skills, airmanship and confidence.
And those are my reasons why spin training should be included in the syllabus for what it's worth. (And SD, i didn't mean to single you out - apologies - just your comment encompassed a real problem that exists withing the flying community)