Brickbat: That Will Teach Him

A teacher at Salinas Elementary School in Texas ordered 24 kindergarten students to hit another student who had allegedly been bullying others. School officials say the teacher ordered the punching after a younger colleague asked her how to deal with the alleged bully. Both teachers, who were not named by media, were placed on paid administrative leave. Officials say the teacher who orchestrated the punching will not return next year and the other teacher has been reprimanded.

Brickbat Archive

Comments

[Whiterun Guard]

DID YOU ORDER THE CODE RED?

[Mo' $parky]

YOU'RE GODDAMN RIGHT I DID!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Officials say the teacher who orchestrated the punching will not return next year and the other teacher has been reprimanded.

Officials should have ordered the other teachers to pummel the two. Duh.

[sarcasmic]

I see nothing wrong with this. Seriously.

[invisible furry hand]

instead of the kids sorting this out amongst themselves, authority figures sic the majority onto the minority. They have learnt the valuable lessons of blindly obeying authority, waiting for it to sort out all their problems, and letting it divide and conquer. As a libertarian, as well as an adult, you bet i see something wrong with this

[sarcasmic]

The teacher taught the kids to meet the unjust initiation of force with force. I see nothing wrong with this.

[invisible furry hand]

Nowhere in that article does it say this child initiated physical force. Given bullying includes verbal acts, it is entirely possible that this child did not unjustly initiate physical force.

Even if he did,he did not do it against every child in the class. Every child however was required to hit him - even his friends. This was not to resist his physical aggression, but retribution. The way in which it was done, IMO, still is a classic method of authority to take away an individual's autonomy (in dealing with it oneself) and to divide and conquer us.

[sarcasmic]

Given bullying includes verbal acts, it is entirely possible that this child did not unjustly initiate physical force.

It doesn't seem that logical for the teacher to have the other kids respond to verbal bullying with physical force. I could be wrong, but the way I read it a kid was (allegedly) physically pushing some weaker kids around, and the teacher showed him a lesson by having the other kids give him a taste of his own medicine, as well as teaching the other kids not to put up with violence.
No offense intended, but your rant seems a bit paranoid and delusional to me.

[invisible furry hand]

No offense intended, but your rant seems a bit paranoid and delusional to me.

None taken, although obviously I am puzzled by your categorization of my posts as rants (or of me as paranoid or delusional).

But I think you are being (with respect) somewhat obtuse. Do you really think the only lesson small children take from this is the one you have identified? None other?

Also, you have not, for example, dealt with my point about the justice (or otherwise) of all the kids being forced to do this, whether they had suffered any injury or not. When should a non-victim be conscripted to punish a perpetrator?

I do not think, however, that we are going to change each other's opinion on this.

[sarcasmic]

Agree to disagree.

[R C Dean]

This isn't self-defense, sarc, because its not self-defense to walk up to somebody and punch them because they hit you last week.

[Gindjurra]

You have no problems with potentially making a young child a murderer?

People die all the time from being punched, even children punching other children.

[Rich]

hit a classmate accused of being a bully

The Bush Doctrine, IOW.

[Mo' $parky]

If she wanted to follow the Obama doctrine she'd have told the kid to wait until the bully is on the slide not paying attention then start throwing rocks at him.

[Rich]

The *alleged* bully; but, yes.

[invisible furry hand]

Surely the Obama doctrine would involve a drone

[Mo' $parky]

Well, I figure rocks are the only long-range attack forms that kids on a playground would have.

[Entitled Slacker]

and a "kill list"

[generic Brand]

And any bully-sized kids who were caught in the barrage of rocks would be assumed to be bullies as well.

[Mo' $parky]

+1. If they weren't bullies they would have gotten away from him.

[Abdul]

What if the bully hadn't been physically aggressive? What if he just called a kid "Tubby" or "four eyes?" Would all the kid have to insult him? Would they use the same insult, or have to come up with24 individual insults?

[Eduard van Haalen]

The interesting thing is that the teacher would probably have gotten into even *more* trouble for just paddling, spanking or smacking the offending child - I even suspect that there was a written rule against this.

So it's basically outsourcing the punishment.

[Eduard van Haalen]

Technically, I was exaggerating:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.....ted_States

[dunkotunko]

So, OK man how do we do this? I mean like wow.

http://www.Anony-dot.tk

[Pip from the forge]

Another instance of what inevitably must happen when authority figures and children mix. Liberty is dead.

[tallyho]

http://www.cane-iac.com/items/.....Qgode15f4w

[tallyho]

Oh yeah, the above tallyho|6.27.12 @ 10:31AM| probably NSFW. Just sayin'

[Mr. FIFY]

What does David Brooks think about this?