I heard a segment on the radio yesterday in which a five year old was completely uncontrollable and a school resource officer was called in to help control the child. The end result was the child was placed in handcuffs and then taken to a mental health facility. Of course many thought this was absolutely unthinkable and many thought what should have been done was to treat the child in a "loving, non threatening" way. The general method was to give the child a hug until they calmed down.

Right, so the teacher, a male, gives the child, a female, a hug to calm her down. The parent smelling money from a lawsuit threatens to have the teacher arrested for sexual misconduct. Or the child, not responding to the loving non threatening hug breaks free and stabs another student in the class room with a pencil or injures them in some other way.

What do you think should have happened?

By the way, if you think a five year old can be easily controlled by an adult you are very misinformed My son, at the age of five, was almost 4 ft tall and weighted about 75 lbs. He has always been large for his age. (now at the age of 29 he is 6'9" and goes about 250 lbs) He once threw a tantrum that took three of us to hold him down and then he still managed to kick the crap out of me. I of course returned the favor. Hugging him would not have worked, especially by a third party.

__________________
Its better to have fussed and crabbed then never to have fussed at all - Lucy

Teachers are not there to coddle unruly children. If they can't behave, remove them from the classroom, as gently as possible, then call the parent to come get the brat. If the behavior continues, expel the offender.

__________________
If you want change stop electing "liberal: democrats and "radical" Republicans. Find and support true Conservatives; those who believe in fiscal responsibilities, individual accountability, and a smaller government, with less control of your daily life.

One of the issues with this, and truthfully one that I would have a problem with, is that they did not allow the parents to remove the child. They had the child committed for evaulation. The big issue of course was putting the child in handcuffs. But what do you do? Do you just lock the child in the classroom until they get over their tantrum? There was another incident, I don't remember where, in which a first grade girl went nutso and began tearing down the banners on the classroom wall and knocking over desk and attacking the teachers, all because they would not let her play with some toy. The resource officer did the same in this instance and handcuffed the child. In this case they made a huge mistake since the child was black and now the parents are filing criminal charges against everyone involved in any way. They are claiming racial discrimination.

It would seem to me that in many cases contacting the parents would do little to quell the problem since parents today will always side with the child and give the message its ok to defy authority, we will back you.

__________________
Its better to have fussed and crabbed then never to have fussed at all - Lucy

I don't know what a health resources officer is and can't figure why a school should have one. But I don't agree with handcuffs well I mean don't see the need. Have the vice princaple or other teacher come in grab the kid and drag him down to the office and paddle his ass. Call the parents and they should beat his ass when they get home. Tell them if this happens again he will be removed from school. They ask well what am I to do oh me oh my. Tell them well hell how about spank that ass and make him mind. I am a firm believer in the paddle at school kids have to respect teachers as they do there own parents. And parents have to back teachers up if we got it at school we realy got it when we got home.

__________________
When you came into this world you cried.
Live your life so that when you die.
The world cries. the shadow

It was not a "health" resource office. It was a security resource officer and many schools today have police stationed in the schools they have become so unruly.

While when I was in school we were all terrified of the "spanking machine" a teacher or principle cannot lay a hand on a student today. The resource officer, being a member of law enforcement, could. If anyone had struck the child you would be looking a several million dollars worth of lawsuits.

__________________
Its better to have fussed and crabbed then never to have fussed at all - Lucy

I spent a year in a pre-school.
half the time its the parents that don't teach their kids. there were a few times when the teachers even told the parents that 'you need to stop giving in and rewarding bad behavior'.
if the child is a threat to others they should be restrained. I don't know if handcuffs are needed. I've seen security hold down teenagers without cuffs- so that might be excessive.
the school social workers should be involved in these cases. many kids act out because of problems at home and a professional should be able to assit the family in those situations.
if the behavior countinues they should be expelled.

Why are handcuffs not needed? If it was Zak's world, then when a brat acted out, I would handcuff them for the rest of the day and they would have to parade around school like that. Eat lunch, write in class, go to recess. And when they needed to go to the potty, I would say "Tough luck, fuck." And when the parents came to complain about their child's psyche being damaged, I would handcuff and gag the unruly parent as well.

__________________
Diversity: The exclusion of White people

Seperation of Church and State: No religious displays...except those of Islam.

Racism: The act of a White Person discriminating against a person of actual color; a person of color (i.e., a minority) cannot perform this act.

I taught 4 years in elementary school. Over half of our students received free or reduced lunch which is a fairly good indicator that it was a "poor school". Behavior problems were the norm there. I had several students with one or two parents in jail, and a few had strippers for moms. Some of the homes did not have a telephone hooked up so I had to make home visits to convey problems happening at school. I came across filthy homes, homes with drunk people, homes with dad sleeping on the couch all day, etc.

While teaching 4th grade, I was told by a mother that I was "badgering" her child to learn the multiplication facts. I gave the students ample time, and if they were not mastered by a certain date, we spent recess time going over them. I was doing the work that should have been done at home (flashcards, practice). Geez, even my parents (both high school dropouts) got me some damn flashcards and didn't act like it was a big deal to do so.

I had a boy in 5th grade that threatened to kill us all. His father was a sleezy lawyer in town that was known as the "go to guy" when you get arrested for drunk driving. When we called him in, he explained to us that little Dylan couldn't possibly be expected to meet the public school system standards of behavior when he was exposed to talk of criminal cases each night at the dinner table. In other words, his kid was street wise, and what we were teaching was for less advanced/naive children.

When I got pregnant with my first child, I quit teaching. Now for the past 5 years, I've taught ESL classes to adults at night.

I don't forsee ever teaching children again. Unfortunately, the parents do not support the teachers any more. Kids are allowed to do whatever they want, and the parents will back them up most of the time. The kids know this. There is very little respect from these children or parents.

As for instances where kids need restraint..........wow. I had these situations too. Luckily (I guess) we had an entire ED (emotionally disturbed) dept. right in our building. I'd call them up and they'd come to my room and remove the child. The next day, the kid would be back again to disturb the others just like before. It took a whole shit load of documentation to get the kid removed. In the meantime, I'm supposed to meet all of these state and federal standards within this zoo like environment.

__________________
I'm here for the beer and the ball bustin' band.

because most small children can be restrained by just people with out cuffs.
thank god we don't live in Zak's world.

kids act out for three reasons-
they weren't taught better
or
they are having problems and that is how they express them
or
they have a mental health problem.

there is very little to be done with the first one if the parents won't change.
the second one can be handled through social works and school conselors.
and the third needs a doctor's intervention.

Heh, I'm not even 24 years old yet and I remember my 2nd Grade Teacher used to not let us leave the Classroom to catch the bus home until she gave a hug to everyone in the class.

I also remember my sister (who is 7 years older than I) telling me about a waver the parents had to sign to allow the principle to issue corporal punishment.

Kind of crazy how PC we have become in such a short period of time.

The PCing of America started in the Educational Institutions. It is literally turning Americans into scared pussies. Afraid of a little boy sneaking a kiss on your daughter on the playground, or getting a hug from a teacher, I assume.

We need to roll back what we think is a healthy environment for children. Sometimes they have to skin there knees riding a bike. Or take a pitch to the nose in order to learn some life skills. They need to keep score and learn how to win and lose. Sometimes they also need to get the shit beat out of them when they get caught drinking or doing drugs or having sex.

__________________
"It is the Right of the People to alter or abolish the Government"
Declaration of Independence
"Never trouble another for what you can do for yourself."
Thomas Jefferson
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."
Milton Friedman