I am a high school teacher and one student in particular was an extreme "challenge." He rarely came to school, but when he did, he was rude to me and other students, foul-mouthed, disruptive, obnoxious, or he slept. One day, I was giving a lecture, writing on the board, talking to the class, etc., and another one of my students just got up out if his seat, walked calmly over to the problem child and started beating on him. The two were in a tangle on the floor when I pushed the button and four principals were in the room in seconds, prying the boys apart and hauling them both off to the office. I asked the rest of the class, "What just happened?" They told me Problem Kid had been making obscene gestures to some girls in the class and the other boy quietly told him to knock it off. Then Problem Kid started in on him, flipping him off and mouthing nasty words, so the other boy got up to put a stop to it. Of course both boys were suspended for three days. That afternoon, I called the "good" kid's father and said, "As a teacher, I can not advocate violence or encourage what your son did, but as a parent to another parent, your son gave this kid what he asked for. And in my opinion, he did the right thing. I'm sorry he's being punished for it."
Shortly thereafter, Problem Kid was eventually expelled from school. Good riddance.
I think no-tolerance rules are slowly being forced out of school systems - at least I hope so.
Carla
