How severely can a schoolteacher actually punish a student?

[votemarvel]

Bring back the whip and cane I say. Nah, I am kidding (not kidding)

In the UK? Detention, a letter home. Due to a lot of cases involving kids and teachers in a distasteful manner, teachers can't even physically break up a fight. Certain school rules.

A teacher friend of mine was told that the only physical force they were allowed to do was to put the student in a bearhug if they were trying to hurt themselves or others.

The Union said "nope" as all it would take is one child saying the teacher felt them up while restraining them and that person's career and reputation would be ruined.

The power at schools is firmly in the hands of the kids these days. Most schools won't even expel unruly students, unless they do something mind numbingly terrible, as it hurts their statistics and rankings.

 

[Parasondox]

Bring back the whip and cane I say. Nah, I am kidding (not kidding)

In the UK? Detention, a letter home. Due to a lot of cases involving kids and teachers in a distasteful manner, teachers can't even physically break up a fight. Certain school rules.

A teacher friend of mine was told that the only physical force they were allowed to do was to put the student in a bearhug if they were trying to hurt themselves or others.

The Union said "nope" as all it would take is one child saying the teacher felt them up while restraining them and that person's career and reputation would be ruined.

The power at schools is firmly in the hands of the kids these days. Most schools won't even expel unruly students, unless they do something mind numbingly terrible, as it hurts their statistics and rankings.

The kids and the parents of those kids. If you mention that lil Jimmy was being a little shit and bullying others, with year long evidence, their parents will have a go at you and try to ruin your working teaching career.

Teachers are not meant to parent your kids. That's down to you, the parent. Some teachers in the UK have it rough.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Sometimes I think high school could use a little military basic training corrective punishment.

 

[DarthCoercis]

Well, teachers were allowed to beat us with a strap across the arse when I was in primary school. If it was good enough for me and my generation, it's good enough for you and yours.

 

[chadachada123]

Frankly I think that a ruler on the wrists is a perfectly acceptable punishment, so long as the parents give prior consent to such discipline. Not sure if my state allows that or not, but I've never been bothered by a light slap here or there.

 

[Recusant]

Hi all, I'm just curious about something, from an early age we're conditioned to have a (hopefully) healthy fear of adults, particularly those in a position of some kind of authority...

I know your post said you graduated in 2009, and I suspect that explains most of this point, but I have to note: we do not have to condition children to fear authority. You will never again in your life know the fear that a typical child knows when confronted with an angry parent or teacher. Sure, maybe the angry axe-wielding maniac is chasing you through the abandoned insane asylum where you were necking with your sweetheart, but if the police knew about this, they'd try to stop him. Maybe it's the police themselves who are the angry maniacs, chasing you to get their guns back and furious that they had to borrow axes from the fire department, but if the public knew about this, they'd want them stopped. You will always, going forward, have the knowledge that there is or would be sympathy and help, even if it's not currently in a position to do anything; if nothing else, people of the future, reading about you in a history book, will feel you were wronged.

You don't have that as a child. People will claim that children have no idea of mortality, and they're (usually) not wrong; but the thought of "trouble" or "BIG trouble" comes to much the same thing. But there is no sympathy to be had, and much of the time, you don't even understand (or fully understand) why you're being punished. You'll simply be periodically struck down by mysterious gods who will then claim to love you, and you'll wonder why the world has gone mad.

But even though the fear is lessened, and much less pure, it hasn't gone away; in a typical school setting, fear rules all hearts. The students know that one fairly major behavioral breach can cripple their chances of college acceptance; a serious blow indeed when many places won't even hire you as a dishwasher if you don't have a degree. The teachers know that one student complaining of manhandling, or worse, sexual misconduct, even if totally unfounded, can destroy their career. The parents and administrators all know that one lawsuit can mess up their lives in a hundred different ways. It wasn't always this way, but I'd lay good money it always sucked; it certainly did in my time.

The answer I'd give to your broader question, however, I think has already been (almost) given:

Well, the ones that are spoiled brats and unrepentent bullies definitely need to be taken out of their comfort zone. They need a case of having control removed from them so they can understand the feelings they put others in. This is a case-by-case basis thing, but the kids that are properly rotten need to be shaped up or shipped out.

It's just that this applies to teachers just as much as kids.

 

[Azure23]

Well, teachers were allowed to beat us with a strap across the arse when I was in primary school. If it was good enough for me and my generation, it's good enough for you and yours.

Good enough? What ridiculous logic. So because you were beaten as a child children today should also be beaten. Ooooookay.

I kinda don't know what else to say, it's honestly not often that I see such rhetoric, especially on a site like this.

 

[FalloutJack]

Well, the ones that are spoiled brats and unrepentent bullies definitely need to be taken out of their comfort zone. They need a case of having control removed from them so they can understand the feelings they put others in. This is a case-by-case basis thing, but the kids that are properly rotten need to be shaped up or shipped out.

It's just that this applies to teachers just as much as kids.

Oh yeah. I'm on board. Rotten teachers are a thing and they should be dealt with as well. Definitely.

 

[Redryhno]

Well, teachers were allowed to beat us with a strap across the arse when I was in primary school. If it was good enough for me and my generation, it's good enough for you and yours.

Good enough? What ridiculous logic. So because you were beaten as a child children today should also be beaten. Ooooookay.

I kinda don't know what else to say, it's honestly not often that I see such rhetoric, especially on a site like this.

I don't think he was saying he was beaten...

 

[DarthCoercis]

Well, teachers were allowed to beat us with a strap across the arse when I was in primary school. If it was good enough for me and my generation, it's good enough for you and yours.

Good enough? What ridiculous logic. So because you were beaten as a child children today should also be beaten. Ooooookay.

I kinda don't know what else to say, it's honestly not often that I see such rhetoric, especially on a site like this.

I don't think he was saying he was beaten...

Oh no, I was beaten. I was a non-christian who went to a catholic school. The teachers really didn't like it when they were questioned.

With that said, I've got several friends who are teachers, and they all have endless stories about the disruptive, violent and abusive students they have to deal with on a daily basis. When I was a child, those children were sorted out within a few days of the new school year as getting 6 of the best across their arse with a switch from the principal ended all of their nonsense. It might have been through fear and pain, but it worked.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

I used to kick the back of chairs of students swinging on them, or slam my hand on their desk. The nature of the punishment means little. It's that small spark of horror you see in their eyes that you know you've got their attention for the rest of the class, at least. Right tone, right application of indirect force, and you should be able to instill it.

Though sometimes you need a show of force. A nice reverse suspension of a particularly noisome student works well to remind others they may be in your crosshairs. Mean, maybe ... but teenagers are wolves, not people.

Though I was never as good as those teachers who managed 'the Stare'. I could never pull it off. The silent stare ... which other students followed instinctively ... but those distracted students talking to eachother didn't realize the class was focussed on them like a laser beam. Able to hear anything they say without them knowing it. And then you strike, and turn the entire class upon them with a single cutting jibe.

Came close on occasions, but I feel as if it's a talent you need to be born with.

The really good teachers can turn students against their own, so that they self-police themselves. Never got that good. But I like to think I got a passing grade in my ability to teach high schoolers. I personally didn't like the teaching style of educators who felt they needed to be a teenager's best friend. Really dislike that mentality. Teachers teach, and if you give students or their parents an inch they'll demand a mile.

I'm also not a fan of raising my voice. When you yell, you're just telling students you're losing control.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

I was talking to my mum and dad the other day and dad was telling me how they used to use a leather belt to strap you over your palms if you misbehaved. My mum said that twice she had her head bashed together with the girl sitting next to her for talking during class, making her see stars. Although it seems extreme, neither of them are adversely affected by it and they said they never felt it was over the top punishment. Different times back then.

I had the second highest number of lunchtime detentions in the entire school (1,000 students) on my first year of High School. The threat of detention did little to deter me. It even gave me something to do during lunch. Had they offered some kind of physical punishment (even if it was running laps of the oval), it might have made me think twice.