Hello everybody I thought I would throw this subject in and make it open for discussion as I think it's an interesting debate; one which is raging here at the moment. How harshly should teachers and educators be empowered to enforce discipline in our schools? It is an unfortunate fact that kids everywhere are now pushing the boundaries of discipline further and further with each passing year. There have been incidents in our schools where children have walked into the classroom armed with pen-knives, flick-knives and, in one case which I will relate to you shortly, even a Swiss army knife. Teachers have the power to confiscate such weapons fem their young students and pupils but, if the youngster resists the teacher's wishes and even becomes violent, how far should the teacher have the right to go in order to restore discipline for the safety of both themselves and the students or pupils in their care?
As I have already intimated, there was a very recent case in our region where just such a thing happened, a child walked into his classroom with a Swiss Army knife fixed to his belt. As it happens, I know both the teacher and her assistant professionally. I have had occasion to visit primary schools around our town quite frequently and these educators are known to me as a consequence. But that is beside the point. Upon realising what the eleven-year-old boy was carrying, the teacher and her teaching assistant attempted, at first, to have the youngster hand over the weapon. The first course of action was verbal requests; which were met with abuse and threats from the child concerned. The next step the educators took was to approach the youngster slowly and attempt to remove the knife from his possession. This provoked a very aggressive response; the child drew the knife from its holster and held the two adults at bay for a period of approximately five minutes during which other pupils looked on in terror. The longer the teacher and her assistant attempted to talk him into relinquishing his weapon and calmly ending the tense stand-off, the more tense and aggressive the youngster became. Ultimately, the situation was resolved when, passing the classroom on his way to another part of the school building, a male teacher, realising that two members of staff were in peril and that the situation was approaching a very dangerous and potentially lethal climax, quietly walked into the classroom and restrained the youngster from behind; pinning his arms to his side and then prising the weapon from his fingers. Following a brief struggle, the weapon was arrested from the child, and the situation brought under control. Needless to say; the two female adults and several of their pupils were deeply shocked by the events which occurred in that classroom. The male teacher, although commended by his seniors and by the police for his actions in disarming the youngster, was nevertheless the subject of a complaint by the boy's parents who, unbelievable though it may sound, objected most strongly to the way their son had been manhandled and to the amount of force used by the teacher in exorcising the weapon and restraining the perpetrator of the incident. The child in question has now been removed from main stream education in order to treat his problems in an establishment for children with behavioural difficulties. His parents have been given a formal warning by the police for allowing their son to acquire the knife in the first instance. Such weapons are, of course, illegal over here and had the child not been subject to the behavioural order of removal, there's little doubt that the parents would have been prosecuted under the legislation. As things stand, the family has been placed on a high risk status list by social services, and a temporary supervision order is now in place. This means that social workers have to visit the family on a daily basis, including weekends, to try to ensure no further infringements. Speaking personally, I think that male teacher is a hero! He could have been injured himself as the youngster became very violent. But he kept his calm and made sure that the situation ended without anybody, including the child concerned, sustained injury. It's probably true that the boy's wrists were bruised in the struggle. When somebody in excess of six feet tall, (two meters, for the benefit of those who are not familiar with the yards, feet and inches Imperial method), applies pressure to the wrists of somebody just over half his height and weight, it's probably inevitable that a certain amount of bruising will occur. But still, I think the parents have a bit of a nerve complaining about the teacher! But to the point. The reason for this message was to find out just how far members of this group think that teachers and other educators should have the right to go in order to maintain discipline within the school or nursery. Should we have the right to use "Reasonable" force, or should there be a policy of no corporal punishment whatsoever? I would be most interested to hear your views; particularly as I know that there are members of this group who are themselves parents. Lynne ======================================== The Just-chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/just-chat> You can find an archive of all messages posted to the just-chat group at either of the following: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/just-chat/index.html> or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> You may subscribe with your RSS reader at the following URL: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
