NO doubt, the 2 kids in question knew that they could goad the teacher into a response, that is why they hid the camera. Some folks will be quick to cast the teacher as some jaack-booted patriotic thug harassing kids, and he was wrong to lose his professional bearing, but there is the fact that the kid who provoked him was a disrespectful smart-ass who knew what he was doing. He's a kid who obviously needs to grow up.

no doubt, if the teacher had instead simply secretly videotaped the kids doing their vandalism thing, he would've been labelled a peadophile, and their parents would've sued the school.
Even here in the UK, the situation with kids, their parents and schools, is not good. It's why i won't consider being a teacher, even though they need IT teachers at the minute (and so offer extra incentives). I prefer my current job of IT technician at a school, as despite earning less than half what teachers get, i have the benefits of working here without the bad bits. The extra pay, IMO, is not worth the extra stress

I am considering education as a second-career; I'd have little problem with the demands of the job as long as I felt the school board and the community would support the teachers when the teachers are doing the right thing. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

I'm sure you will do very well, Ski

you'll be very lucky if you manage to find somewhere where that is the case consistently. It may be much better with private schools, i can't comment there, but with state schools there's almost as much politics as...well, as in politics. OK, that's going a little TOO far. But if i were a teacher, i think i'd have a rage problem.

Good luck, SKI.

A buddy of mine is doing some substitute teaching at public high schools in the area. He hopes to become a full-time teacher in the near future.

We have pretty damn good schools here, at least by Florida's standards. But he's already jaded.

Most of the kids are not interested in learning. The school adminstrators are largely inept. And the parents mostly don't seem to care.

Good luck, bro; you'll need it! :)

Funny enough, I have been considering taking on part-time teaching, too. I'm thinking that at the college level, there is a greater chance that the students give a hoot.

As for this item and high school:

we don't need no education
we don't need no thought control
no dark sarcasm in the classroom
teacher leave the kids alone

I'd like to see the tape. Anyone know where i could find it.?

In any case, there are a lot of inept teachers who despite their best efforts have no ability to control kids. The one thing that doesn't work with kids today is negative control.

All successful behavior management techniques are positive these days and are very successful when used well.

Sounds like this teacher was banging his head against a wall and creating hysteria in the class. Feeding the flames. Kids love it when a teacher looses his or her, cool.

I also think that the vandalism stuff is pretty ordinary. I used to smash peoples stuff when i was a kid too. Most boys get a rush out of their destructive stage.

However, posting it on the internet is what worries me. He'd have to be an arrogant brat to show off this sort of thing. Mind you, with the jackass popularity and skate videos, its a pretty noral thing for kids to try out. Infact, this stuff is tame compared to most of the shit that skate videos have.

Fox was playing the tape, so they may have it on their site.

Student hurt, teacher placed on leave
Susan Troller -- 9/28/2007 10:18 am

A teacher at Madison's Whitehorse Middle School was placed on administrative leave today following an incident in which a student's father says the teacher squeezed and burned the 7th-grader's hand as she held a wood-burning pen during his class.

The school district confirmed this morning that a teacher at the east side middle school is not teaching today and will not be in school pending completion of an investigation into what happened during his class Wednesday.

Because there have been no charges filed and the investigation into the incident is pending, The Capital Times is not identifying the teacher.

District spokesman Joe Quick said it is common practice for staff to be put on leave while an investigation involving a personnel issue is under way.

In addition to the Madison school district's investigation, the Madison Police Department was at Whitehorse Wednesday afternoon in response to the incident, but department spokesman Joel DeSpain said this morning that no arrests were made and that the incident has been turned over to the schools for follow-up. As of this morning, no police report was available for review.

The 7th-grader's father contacted The Capital Times and said his daughter was treated at University Hospital Wednesday. He said that photos of her hand were taken and that X-rays taken during the examination showed that the 12-year-old student suffered soft tissue damage but no apparent broken bones. He said his daughter suffered first-degree burns from the pen.

According to the father, the incident took place at the end of shop class when the teacher was trying to hurry students during cleanup.

The teacher "says it was an accident and that he told the students twice to clean up. Our daughter said she didn't hear him. Apparently he got mad, grabbed her hand and squeezed it while she was holding the wood-burning pen," the father said.

Efforts to reach the teacher this morning were unsuccessful because he has no listed phone number in the district's directory or the Madison phone book.