Jenx - a lot of what you say sounds disturbingly familiar
My wife's a teacher in a local secondary school. She's been teaching for 3years now.
In her first week of teaching, she was pinned against the wall by a 13yr old boy brandishing a pair of scissors.
On more than one occasion, she's had heavy objects thrown at her from the class whilst she was writing on the whiteboard.
Some of her pupils are on 'behavioural contracts' as they have 'behavioural problems'. If they get agitated, they shout, scream and (frequently) throw things including chairs across the classroom. Their 'punishment': walk around the school to cool off ....
So. Why doesnt my dear wife do anything to discipline these kids? She (along with all new teachers AFAIK) receive lengthy lectures on just how many ways there are to either face disciplinary action: lose their jobs or wind up with a criminal record.
If she shouts at a pupil in a way that might be considered 'demeaning';
If she physically touches a pupil for any reason other than to prevent imminent, serious harm to others;
If she uses red pen/crosses to indicate poor performance;
................................
When I went to school (late '80's/'90's) there was no physical punishment but I remember being dragged bodily from the classrooms on a few occasions to have a teacher screaming insults and blue murder at me, inches from my face.
That worked on me and, AFAIK, no teachers were ever sacked for it.
With teaching today, teachers practically need to have a team of lawyers sat in the back of classes, furiously cross checking all and any actions a teacher takes against an endless list of scenarios, the vast majority of which will see the teacher in deepest, darkest doodoo.
And for the naughty kids?
They can get away with damn near anything, with near impunity! In a lot of cases, where the parents are called in, the typical response to wee johnnys misdemeanours is: 'You're the teachers - its your problem. I can't control him/her'.
:evil:
I do support the view that not all kids are bad. I was part of the Air Training Corps for 15years. Respect was earned, you came to discipline yourself and punishment was harsh yet constructive.
I did notice that there is a small, hard-core of badly behaved kids in schools that disrupt the others. They do, however, tend to make more of a scene than the good majority and thus get noticed more.
Anyway .... i'm just ranting now. :roll:
:lol:
Cheers.
Bryn
