In today's St. Pete Times, there's an article about two teachers that may have used unnecessary restraint on a student that attacked one of them. I really can't shed a tear for the student. I tried to work up a little empathy but... nope. Not gonna happen.Right now, her parents should be kicking her butt, too. But that's not gonna happen either. Instead, we now have another "victim" when the real victims are the teachers and our educational system.
Sure the teachers overreacted. But then again, wouldn't you be a little miffed if some snotty kid came up to you and assaulted you, knowing that she had impunity? And yeah, she knew it, trust me. She may be a first grader, but she wasn't in Special Ed.
Sure, sure. We're adults. We're supposed to be able to restrain ourselves better. But let's face it, we have unreasonably indulgent standards for kids, when they should be held to higher expectations. I can understand a two year old being out of control, but this is another example of a first grader that is a classic Kid Out of Control (KOOC).
And I admit that rubbing the kid's face in the sand and screaming at her to "eat dirt!" is wrong. In fact, it's downright assault and battery. That alone should send those teachers packing.
But...
Until we begin to hold parents liable for the monsters they're creating, we will continue to have a decline in teachers and the quality of education. Because other students can't thrive where KOOCs are allowed to behave badly, and surprisingly there aren't enough masochistic teachers to go around.
Michelle recently did this post discussing discipline. Perhaps it's a post that needs to be made weekly until something is done!
25 comments:
The "teachers" went too far in this case. (the eat dirt and running after the child calling her nasty was unwarranted) The rest of your entry I agree with...kids like this...along with their parents have no respect for teachers.
Mike, I agree that the teachers shouldn't have done that. Well, calling a kid "nasty" isn't bad (she was!) but the dirt incident is assault. My point is that it's not right, but understandable.
Reverberate, It's only getting worse, not better. The current solutions are certainly not working, huh?
My S-I-L quit teaching a few years ago after a 10th grade student bit her on the arm--enough to draw blood. Neither the principal nor the administration would stand with my S-I-L because of parental threats. However, my S-I-L's letter to the editor provoked a lengthy investigation and several scathing newspaper articles.
They say things are better there now. Hoo nose.
I dont feel bad for the little girl either. I think her parents should be just as accountable as well, I do think the teachers may have overreacted a little bit, but i think you said it right--she knew she had impunity. And the media will make her a victim. I think the problem in this world is that people are always willing to pass the buck. We need to start taking responsibility for ourselves. If our kids are rotten peices of shit-- its the parents fault. Plain & Simple. Once people accept that, maybe we can make some changes.
It does seem like students can get away with a lot more these days and they know it. I remember three incidents from when I was in school that I'm sure would have resulted in lawsuits or teacher dismissals. The first involved my shop teacher picking up a misbehaving kid by his ear (feet not touching the floor) and throwing him out of the shop door telling him to get the f$%& out and never come back. The second involved a teacher breaking a yardstick over a classmates head causing it to bleed. The third was my grade school prinicpal who had a fondness for paddling misbehaving youth. Fortunately, I never was on the receiving end but watching those that were put me on the straight and narrow!
Back then, all those youths probably went home and got another spanking/form of punishment on top of it.
Yes, I read this too. I really believe that this child knew she would get away with this. I in no way believe the teachers handled this properly. I do believe that there is only so much anyone can take before a situation like this happens more often.
These parents and kids have got to get their act together. This child was not just behaving like a first grader. If a first grader was really that upset hitting an adult would not be their first reaction. I know kids will be kids, and parent have to pick their battles sometimes. Teachers have to pick their battles too. This battle should not be one.
The school board needs to get a handle on student discipline guidelines and demand that everyone adhere by these rules. Administration, principals, vice-principals, guidance counselors, intervention teachers, etc and so on need to back the teachers up.
This just ticks me off and gets me going....
(Suar, I added more.)
I think saying that we understand this kind of behaviour by the teachers is like saying that we understand child abuse.
This child was after all only in Grade 1 so I can say that I do not understand how they could behave in such a manner. I have worked in camping and youth programs for about 11 years and have come up against all kinds of poorly behaved children. Most of the time it is due to poor parenting, but this would never excuse any kind of physical assault on a child. NOT THAT YOU ARE SAYING IT IS OKAY!!
Scott
I’m not sure if this is the same story Saur, --- but here in NY yesterday, a kid went up to the teacher and punched him in the stomach. In return, the teacher put him in a headlock to restrain him.
Yes, it is wrong to ‘touch’ a kid and hurt them, but in this case, the teacher was right and basically trying to hold the kid back. There are furious parties on both sides.
I am with you on this one! Kids are out of hand these days and parents need to take more control.
if that were my child....I'd have beat her ass for doing that and then beat the teacher's ass for touching my kid. Hello! Set an example.
I'm kind of smiling a bit here imagining the whole "eat dirt" thing. I'm not feeling anger towards those teachers at all. Maybe the girl needed a taste of her own medicine. Sure, the teachers can't get away with doing that, but I'm kind of glad they did it.
The little monster!!
My grandfather always said "Two wrongs don't make a right" every time I wanted to retaliate for something done to me.
The child was out of control and needed to be brought down but the teachers did it in the wrong way. The kid should be suspended from school and probably needs some counseling/anger management, the teachers should be fired. There are no victims here - just 3 peolple who acted like jerks who all should have known better.
I don't disagree the teachers were wrong. Perhaps the investigation will come to the findings that the teachers should be fired. No doubt there is probably more than one way the teachers could have handled the situation.My issue is student discipline. This child new she could misbehave with little to no consequences, so she did. This is what I am tired of seeing and hearing about.
Boy oh boy... if this ever happened when I was in school, my parents would have had their own discipline that I would have had to deal with.... that alone kept me in line.
Back in the 60's it wasn't unheard of for a teacher to use a paddle on you. Not that I'm saying it is right, but the motivation fizzled on bad behavior just because you knew what the consequences were beforehand.
I agree with everything that Michelle said here... and only wish I could have read her link to the April 13th entry on her blog. It seems when I went over there, the 13th was missing. ?????
There's plenty of blame to go around here. The teachers went too far, BUT they had probably been on the edge of stress for a while and snapped, due to restrictions on behavior control in the schools. What is really sad is that a few bad apples (kids, that is) ruin the system and the mearning environment fro all kids. The faculty and staff spend WAY too much time trying to keep a few troublemakers under control, and we all pay for that.
If it were my kid, she'd be in a world of hurtin.
As the cumulative effects of No Child Left Behind pile up, you can probably expect to see more incidents like this.
Not to excuse the teacher's behavior (they did go way too far), but when there is nothing you can do with the rotten apples in the bunch (cant kick them out, kids have a "right" to education), and you're having your performance judged on how well you teach those little monsters (based on their subsequent test performance), well, people are going to snap.
Or leave.
Or both.
Until the public educational system is geared to giving the best students as much attention as they give to the worst, until we're willing to say, "we will not sacrifice our best minds while trying to make the horse drink", things arent going to get any better at our public schools.
Throw the worst kids out, and let their parents deal with them. We're always going to have obnoxious parents, we always have (read any story about teaching), what seems to have changed is the will to tell those folks to deal with their kids or go to hell. Why is that?
Ellen,
Click on "this post" here on Saurs thread. You will be on my blog "Sweet N' Saur". Then click on the website I have listed which is this:
http://www.sptimes.com/classroom/
Finally click on the thread that says "Closed" and scroll down to the April 13th date.
If you can follow these instructions you get and A+.
I don't feel bad for the girl, but people who can't control themselves in those situations don't need to be there. I feel the same way about police who have to assault the criminals they chase. I don't feel bad for the criminals, but the cops should know their job is going to involve chasing them and if they can't do it and keep their cool, they need to find another occupation or volunteer for desk duty.
Michelle~ I made it in. Thanks for your help!
Saur, I am so sick of this crap here! The recent international news item from our fair city about the "Tazmanian Devil" six year old takes the cake. Now, "Mama Taz" is suing the City the School System and God only knows who else. Who says crime doesn't pay!
If the reports are correct about this incident, the teachers assistants were wrong. Sadly, it is hard to blame them. The level of unchecked misbehavior has increased to a point that it is wearing good people down. Somewhere along the way the lines got terribly blurred and all hell broke loose. Grrrrrrrr
Good gracious and good gravy juice this story has all the elements of a Hate Crime. Saur, to simply label this as an assault makes you look like a conehead with an eye patch. Admittedly maybe you’re unaware of the ethnic backgrounds of the players. I did like your Jamaican picture though it made me laugh
I’m sure you’re accustom, like me, to reading Donna Winchester’s cover-up the truth articles. Why does she insult our intelligence? I’d like to see her belly dance. Holy Cow.
One thing about female black principals is it’s just like having no principal at all, that is until whitey gets in trouble and all feces hits the fan.
I’m so glad I live North of Sunset Point Road.
Slap Kathleen’s fro.
There must be an amazing shortage of teachers these days... who wants to sign up for this anymore?
I dread the day Incrediboy will be going off to school in the company of these kinds of ... specimens.
I bet that teacher enjoyed that!
Mr. Gator. Please, stand corrected. I do not have a fro. I have a froo, froo!
We had some stupid teachers in my school. One had a paddle with holes in it and one had a strap. If they ever touched my kids I would have decked them. Punishment is up to the parents, or WAS.
As long as the law gives kids "immunity" to punishment in the home parents will be unable to discipline young children.
The time to teach a child respect for it's elders, sharing, safety and proper behaviour in a group setting is when they are really too small to understand verbal explainations.
I don't advocate beating kids but I believe the proper stimulation of the "seat of learning" is some times needed for reinforcing understanding consequenses in the young.
Even a mama cat will bap a kitten that is playing too roughly or being rude to her.
I am so glad mine are raised and gone before the world went all crazy. I used restrictions, room time and leaving the store but sometimes a good whack on the butt was called for and I used it, too.
We had 3, 5 and 10 spank offences and the kids knew the rules and the punishments. It was their choice then to follow them or pay the piper.
My job was to teach them that the world enforces much nastier consequences when you screw up than I do and that they had better learn to follow the rules now, not later, when Mom or Dad can't fix it.
I did my job, parents today can't do their part right, so put the blame where it belongs, on the laws.
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