Chocolate Forum

Chat => General => Topic started by: loulou on May 21, 2007, 01:03:26 am

Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: loulou on May 21, 2007, 01:03:26 am
There were 262 attacks on teachers by pupils in Northern Ireland in one year, according to the most recent figures.
 





In my schooldays we wouldn't look at a teacher the wrong way never mind speak out of line or attack one.

 

Bring back the cane.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: oldspice on May 21, 2007, 07:51:26 am
I wonder what they mean by 'attack'?  Pushing a bit? Smacking an arm, or a full attack resulting in injury?  I think attacks on teachers is more common in schools than in FE where I teach. We do get a lot of bad behaviour but it's mainly mouthing off. A few years ago, one student, with no provocation except that I asked him not to eat his sandwich during the lesson, faced up to me and was very aggressive. It was very frightening then and only recently he was sent to prison for beating up a passer-by and leaving him in a permanent coma. Looks like I got a lucky escape.
 

I don't approve of the cane. It punishes behaviour without changing it.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: smurfboy on May 21, 2007, 02:41:24 pm
I don't agree with the cane either. That said, a situation in which teachers are scared to discipline students for fear of being sued is far from ideal either.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: loulou on May 21, 2007, 05:38:16 pm
How about the slipper?
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: smurfboy on May 21, 2007, 07:39:22 pm
I think you know my answer to that.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: wjp666 on May 21, 2007, 09:36:39 pm
i don't know about when i was at school, but i'd definitely assault my old headmaster given the chance now. he was a very creepy and strange indivudual. and looking back at all the clues now i'd say he was definitely a paedophile.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: loulou on May 21, 2007, 10:41:56 pm
Well all I can say is the slipper and the cane never did us any harm. We maybe did something once but we certainly didn't do it again.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: wjp666 on May 22, 2007, 12:14:03 am
Quote from: loulou
Well all I can say is the slipper and the cane never did us any harm. We maybe did something once but we certainly didn't do it again.

 

despite what people may say, i definitely think there is some logic in that. the way kids act today prove that the current system is failing.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: loulou on May 22, 2007, 12:39:38 am
All this not being able to smack your kids is all wrong too.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: goldencup on May 22, 2007, 09:11:27 am
When I was at junior school the headmaster still had a cane but I don't think it was ever used while I was there.  Just the knowledge that it was a possibility was enough to stop us misbehaving too badly.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: Cherry_Ripe on May 22, 2007, 09:16:51 am
My maths teacher used to throw the (black)board rubber at your head if you were talking in class. If you upset him he would bang it on the desk very hard so you got covered in chalk dust! He was a very good teacher though.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: loulou on May 22, 2007, 09:57:31 am
My Physics teacher was like that with the blackboard rubber. If he thought you weren't listening to him he would throw it so it hit your desk.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: goldencup on May 22, 2007, 10:39:13 am
I think it must have been something they taught them at Teacher Training school!  I had several teachers who were deadly accurate with the board rubber too - and for the benefit of our younger forum members - these were hard wooden things!
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: wjp666 on May 22, 2007, 03:07:32 pm
Quote from: loulou
All this not being able to smack your kids is all wrong too.

 

here here! Clap
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: smurfboy on May 22, 2007, 03:09:58 pm
I would never hit a child.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: oldspice on May 22, 2007, 06:36:37 pm
Yes, our teachers threw board rubbers too.
 

We still have them for white boards but they are light, spongey things. Of course, we're not allowed to throw them at students nowadays. What works for me if someone is not paying attention is to stop talking and to look very hard at the culprit. This draws attention to them so that the whole class startsto look at them too. They usually get embarrassed. However, the real trick is not to talk too much in a lesson at all. A concise introduction with a variety of activities and a five minute plenary at the end is enough, I find.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: loulou on May 22, 2007, 07:48:16 pm
Quote from: smurfboy
I would never hit a child.

 

 

I would if they were being naughty.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: Scarlet Passion on May 23, 2007, 03:03:13 am
I was smacked as a child, but I don't consider that I was ever hit.
 

I think people forget or perhaps can't see any more that there is a difference between smacking and hitting. There is a difference between smacking/disciplining and abuse.


The difference is the intent behind the action. I would use smacking as a way of correcting unnacceptable behaviour.

I agree with Loulou it never did me any harm.

 

 
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: oldspice on May 23, 2007, 07:29:50 am
I think the important point is that if you had to be smacked more than once it did not serve to correct unaccetable behaviour, it simply acted as a form of punishment.
The problem with smacking is that the person on the receiving end quickly associates the smack as a consequence of the bad behaviour, therefore, once the smack has been administered, the punishment is over and the smacker/smack receiver are all square. This does not change behaviour, it simply makes the smack receiver accept punishment for their actions.

 
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: smurfboy on May 23, 2007, 03:25:42 pm

Quote from: Scarlet Passion
I think people forget or perhaps can't see any more that there is a difference between smacking and hitting. There is a difference between smacking/disciplining and abuse.



I agree to an extent, but the problem is that if smacking is legal, where do we draw the line? What one parent considers firm discipline could be considered abuse by someone else, or the child. If a child is being genuinely hurt and tells their teacher (for example), what is to stop the parents saying 'it was only a smack because they were being naughty'? The lines become too blurred.

The phrase 'never did me any harm' seems to be coming up a lot - but perhaps what we should be asking is, does it do any good?
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: Scarlet Passion on May 23, 2007, 06:36:55 pm
Quote from: smurfboy

I agree to an extent, but the problem is that if smacking is legal, where do we draw the line? What one parent considers firm discipline could be considered abuse by someone else, or the child. If a child is being genuinely hurt and tells their teacher (for example), what is to stop the parents saying 'it was only a smack because they were being naughty'? The lines become too blurred.

Yes I agree with that, and there should be a point at which all hitting stops, but I think even if you do hit your kids some part of you knows it is wrong and/or too much, too far. And obviously cases where the child complains of abuse like that should be investigated by people qualified to assess such things. But realistically, not simply from a standpoint of "Well any form of physical contact even for disciplinary purposes is abuse," because that simply is not so.

Quote from: smurfboy
The phrase 'never did me any harm' seems to be coming up a lot - but perhaps what we should be asking is, does it do any good?

My mum would say yes, and I would agree with her.

I think I appreciated knowing that if I was naughty I would be punished. It gave me clear boundaries and a certain knowledge of consequences.

Both of which seem to be lacking in kids today. They know that whatever they do they not only will not be punished, in most cases they CANNOT be punished! What on earth does that teach them about fairness and honesty, or respect and self discipline?

How are they supposed to know what is and isn't acceptable behaviour if no-one ever punishes their behaviour however bad or criminal it gets?

 

My mum ended up with a child with good manners (holding doors open, and still saying please and thankyou even now!) I do not drink to excess, I do not smoke, have never touched drugs at all and apart from my one small brush with petty thieving as a youngster have never broken any laws. I study and revise when necessary, and I'm doing quite well in college and I am no where near as boring as I sound honest! Big%20smile

I think my mum is proud of me, and I would have no problems bringing up any kids of mine in exactly the same way, as it did work, for me.

Perhaps you would say I am one of the lucky ones and perhaps you are right, but I do know this. I do not resent or hate my mum for smacking me, I do not wish she hadn't and it did not make me violent towards other people. I don't fight ( but would defend myself if necessary) and I don't carry a weapon of any kind.

None of my teachers are afraid of me and they have no need to be. Smile
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: oldspice on May 23, 2007, 06:52:29 pm
I don't think your mum needs to be hated or resented but you might have been just as nice and law-abiding without any smacking!
 

I wasn't smacked and I haven't smacked my children and we've all turned out okay.
Title: Teachers attacked
Post by: Scarlet Passion on May 23, 2007, 07:23:58 pm
That is very true Oldspice.
I must admit that thinking about it, individual personality might be just as important to the person you turn out to be as environment, breeding, religion or anything else really. If you simply don't have the temperament or inclination to be a criminal/ruffian/undesirable then maybe that is how some people brought up in the hardest of circumstances rise above it, whereas some kids brought up in the most favourable of families with every advantage available to them turn out to be some of the vilest people ever born.

That is a good thought. Thanks. Smile