Recently a mother in a country town punched her child's teacher about the head several times as she was preparing her lesson.
Later she escaped with a small fine.
What does this teach our kids?
Why is this happening?
Police, doctors, nurses and para medics are also in the firing line.
My opinion is that violence like this comes from a lack of self value and discipline that must be taught through responsible parenting.
http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0 ... public_rss

Frustration? I never hit but I sure felt the urge. My son's seventh-grade history teacher told the kids the Holocaust never happened. When I complained I got a smarmy lecture on academic freedom. My children were labeled as learning disabled because the reading specialist said they couldn't read. I went to school and my children demonstrated their reading skills by reading one of my college texts out loud. The problem, according to the school, was that my children hadn't properly cooperated with the reading specialist. My son's English teacher told him that spelling and grammar were unimportant and what was really important were his ideas. In the third grade my daughter's teacher told my daughter she didn't like her. My daughter was upset. I spoke to the teacher and asked what my daughter could do. "Nothing, but I thought we should be honest about our feelings." That was wonderful because I felt an attack of honesty coming on. I was amazed how quickly her interest in honesty disappeared.

And then there was open campus. Kids were free to go to school, or not, as they pleased and it was hailed as a wonderful program because it reduced problems for the teachers. The administration admitted that on nice-weather days absenteeism ran around 35%. Parents weren't notified for weeks. I'm not surprised there was less trouble.

I think there is anger and frustration over kids who are not receiving an adequate education.

Frustration? I never hit but I sure felt the urge. My son's seventh-grade history teacher told the kids the Holocaust never happened. When I complained I got a smarmy lecture on academic freedom.

I don't think must parents have such a noble reason for wanting to hit teachers. They are just not articulate enough to express themselves or lack respect for others.

In the third grade my daughter's teacher told my daughter she didn't like her.

I only had one teacher that liked me and she was Irish and liked everybody.
I got expelled. My parents smacked me but not the teachers and thats the way it should be.

I think there is anger and frustration over kids who are not receiving an adequate education.

I agree that a lot modern techniques are crap but hitting people is not really the way to advance education is it?

" . . . but hitting people is not really the way to advance education is it?"

Yep, it is. In my school the cane was freely used; the teacher on playground duty wore it as a badge of rank, thrust like a sword, in his girdle. Impartial whacks could be expected at any time if one was transgressing. My class all did well in life and always spoke highly of the teachers, I visited some of them in their retirement especially one Principal who was feared by all small fry for the stinging cuts that he administered to the left hand (if one was left handed then to the right hand, no impairement to writing), and only ever two cuts, that was his maximum.

Spare the rod and spoil the school. Nothing works as well as fear.

Then there were the police who would give the wayward a clip under the ear and that was that. None of my lot ever went home and complained to their fathers 'cause that would have meant another clout.

I said hitting people not hitting kids!
I agree fear is a vital ingredient in disciplining children.
The PC treatment kids are are getting now has led to them becoming completely unmanageable in some cases.

Christine O: "I agree that a lot modern techniques are crap but hitting people is not really the way to advance education is it?"

I don't think so but as you've pointed out the justice system is loathe to punish women.

I'm curious, Christine. When do children become people?

That comment was tongue in cheek.
However I don't agree with treating children as equals. Its better to have them in awe of adults, then they have something to aspire to.
There is a problem here in Australia with student violence towards teachers to.

Things clearly change. When I was young, many years ago, I was in high school before I encountered teachers who I felt really didn't care whether I learned anything or not. My children we in their first three years of school. No matter how rotten I was no teacher ever said, "I don't like you and never will."

If I had a teacher with whom I had a problem I never told my parents. I knew their response would be, "And, just what did you do to drive this poor teacher over the edge?" And, most of the time they would have been right. Hey, I wasn't an easy student.

In high school I had a biology teacher who was most well-known for being a drunk. One day he said he was going to hit me with an electrical cord. I responded with, "Hit me with that cord and I'll kick your ass." I was sent to the principal. The principal listened to me, nodded, and sent me back to the class.

As I read your original post, the teacher was working on paper work and the woman hit her. The article didn't give any details. If the teacher was quietly working in her office and a woman walked in and hit her, I'd guess we're dealing with a nut. If, on the other hand, the woman was attempting to talk to the teacher and the teacher was ignoring her and working on her paperwork then I can see frustration and anger building.

Yes, I think assaults are a problem regardless where they're happening.

Below is a report of one teachers thoughts on the subject

http://www.theteachersareblowingtheirwh ... tories.htm

I have been involved in assisting a couple of Tanzanian students with their high school fees, which are less than $100.00 per year. After visiting the schools and reading their letters its impossible not notice the huge difference in attitude mentioned by the teacher in the article above.

That teacher was very wrong to tell your daughter that she didn't like her.
It probably meant your daughter didn't like her in the first place, and didn't make the all the right noises to get in her good books. They tend to go for the kids that suck up.

When my son was at a Catholic High School about ten years ago one of the boys in his science class spoke the F word to the teacher. The teacher who did body building and was a very strong man grabbed him by the throat and dangled him in the air until his face turned very red. Years later we had a notice in our mail box: the teacher was standing for parliament, to be our local Labour party representative. He didn't fulfill his political ambitions and he certainly didn't get our vote!

That is disgraceful Christine. They should have reported his conduct immediately to the principal. That kind of conduct by any teacher is completely unacceptable.

I hesitate to report things like that because everyone who handles children has those emotions at times. If we're honest we all feel the urge to lash out but usually manage to keep a lid on it.
One mistake could ruin an otherwise valuable career.

He'd get my vote anytime.

With all due respect Christine, are the consequences for his career your concern? What about the child who was strangled? How do you know this teacher won't 'lash out' again? Isn't your resposibility to report this misdemeanour and let the school decide the best way to deal with it?

Teachers are trained for years on how to manage student behaviour. They should be a bit more capable than the average 'person on the street' and should not be getting emotional when handling student behaviour but should be using their professional expertise.

Part of being an adult is being able to control your emotions and not 'lash out'. That is in fact, what he should be modelling to the students. There's got to be a line. In my mind, and I think most people would agree, that teacher clearly crossed the line and his inability to manage his own anger needs to be dealt with, not ignored. Even just walking out of the classroom and cooling off would have been better than what he chose to do.

That kind of behaviour cannot be ignored, it needs to be highlighted and dealt with.

Did the teacher 'lash out'?

Perhaps his actions were cool, calm and collected and he used his strength to teach a much needed lesson. Now had he screamed in rage and smashed the pupil in the face with his free hand then there would be cause for complaint.

Perhaps they were cool calm and collected. I very much doubt that though, a teacher who was thinking rationally would not make this foolish mistake and risk his career.

Either way, it was wrong. There are many ways to deal with a student who chooses to use bad language in the classroom, dangling them by their neck is not one of them. What lesson does it teach Samuel? That if someone angers you, use violence and physical intimidation to solve the problem? Remember we are trying to reduce the prevalence of violence (particularly among males) in our society, not encourage it.

At the very least it was poor judgement, at the very worst, the man has serious anger management issues and should not be in the position he is in.

I witnessed a similar action by a friend of mine some years ago.
We were having a quiet beer or two in a pub in Bathurst (NSW) when my mate was accosted by someone who wanted to fight him. Upon the offer being politely declined my friend was subjected to verbal abuse that called into question his legitamacy, the honour of his parents and his personal courage.
So he did as the teacher did and grabbed the nuisance by the collar of his shirt, lifted him off the ground at arms length then picked up his own unfinished beer, drained the glass, set it down upon the bar and set the other burden down upon its feet and suggested, in not uncertain terms, that he take himself elsewhere, with which request he complied. That was the end of the matter and we never saw him again nor did we ever find out who he was.

A bit of violence at the right time solves many problems.

Samuel wrote:

... A bit of violence at the right time solves many problems.

Sometimes physical strength is the only thing a person can comprehend. It can be the only language they speak. In such cases, strength or violence can be the best solution.

The problem is knowing when is the right time to use strength.

Unfortunately many young people including students today understand what they believe are their rights and many people will support them because it is the easy/nice/warm and fuzzy option, but few kids have any idea of their responsibilities. Rights and responsibilities must go together. And I can say young people of yesterday suffered the same problem generally; however I do perceive a growing lack of respect and responsibility in today's society generally.

That's true but it's far more often that physical strength is all the person has with which he can communicate.