Teacher Batters Pupil ....

[gnoriac]

A science teacher has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a boy of 14 and two other pupils were hurt at a Nottinghamshire school.

So presumably he attacked 3 of them.

 

[aylee]

what? you're surprised more teachers don't hit more kids?

yes it is wrong to assume the kid was playing up, but even if he was, are you justifying violence on a kid?

Not a bit of it. Simply saying that given the shit that some teachers get, I'm surprised that more of them don't crack.

Of course I'm not suggesting that they should be allowed to hit kids with impunity. This is 2009, not 1909.

 

[PacificOcean]

How old are you, out of interest.

My experience of schools when teachers could hit kids and schools after they weren't allowed, was that they became significantly less violent when physical punishments stopped. Teachers stopped hitting kids, kids stopped hitting each other.

Really?

The tabloids seem to suggest differently.

According to them inner city secondary schools are now worse statically than schools in Beirut and Kabul.



e2a:

 

[audiotech]

As someone who went to school when implements of all kinds, including the fists of teachers, were used to beat children, I suspect that if this idiot had been around at the time he would have excelled in the practice.

 

[JHE]

It seems the teacher was very wrong. I do feel sorry for him, though.

 

[Geri]

So presumably he attacked 3 of them.

The two others were trying to defend the boy he was attacking, apparently.

 

[Lakina]

The teacher is sooooo fucked. Too bad nobody told him about counting to ten.

 

[lizzieloo]

everything past watford i thought.

WATFORD GAP

 

[PacificOcean]

WATFORD GAP

That's Coventry.

It's almost as far north as Carlisle in the North/South divide thing.

Watford, just outside Zone 6, is the limit of "The South".

 

[lizzieloo]

That's Coventry.

It's almost as far north as Carlisle in the North/South divide thing.

Watford, just outside Zone 6, is the limit of "The South".

The north/south divide thingy is Waford Gap, not Watford.

Whilst driving on the M1 the services are unofficially, and sometimes comically, known by residents of London and southeastern England as the point where the north/south divide occurs. The implication is that there is neither culture nor sophistication "North of the Watford Gap".


Margaret Thatcher stated that Corby—the first large town north of the Watford gap—was the "gateway to the North".


However, it has since become more popular to use the phrase "north of Watford", referring to the larger and unconnected town of Watford, Hertfordshire nearer to London. The reason for this change is potentially due to the signs at Staples Corner, where the M1 begins, reading simply "M1, Watford, The North" thus potentially implying that Watford is the last place in the South; or possibly due to many people being ignorant of the existence of Watford Gap and are familiar only with the larger town of Watford.

Waford Gap isn't Coventry.

 

[PacificOcean]

The north/south divide thingy is Waford Gap, not Watford.



Waford Gap isn't Coventry.

I know. I know.

But for us Londoners - Watford, Herts. Is as pretty far north as we get.

 

[Lakina]

In Hampshire, London is the north. Only the Isle of Wight is south.

Sorry, but that's a geographical fact.

 

[PacificOcean]

In Hampshire, London is the north. Only the Isle of Wight is south.

Sorry, but that's a geographical fact.

Reminds me of a joke on People Like Us:

"We are in East Sussex which is in the South. But is in the North compared to Kent, but to the South compared to London. But to the East of West Sussex and to slightly to the right of Surrey."

Or something like that.

 

[Sean]

Bad time to get nicked really, considering the summer holidays are coming

 

[Goatherd]

Not to derail too much, but when I went to BBC Northampton to read a bit more about this story I saw this -

http://h.imagehost.org/0854/bbc_news_tarmac.gif

What is their picture editor on?

Edit : They've changed it now. Is it just me or was that a bit too gruesome?

 

[Refused as fuck]

Not nearly gruesome enough.

 

[Lakina]

Police say he used an "implement commonly found in classrooms". Square rule? Board wiper? Bunsen burner?

 

[HarrisonSlade]

I remember in my day the teachers were putting us in hospital all the time, and it never done us any harm (apart from break a few bones and cause some emotional scars)

 

[BlueSquareThing]

If it's a science lab then something like a clamp stand maybe?

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

apparently it's attempted murder now

fucking mental innit. heard this on the radio earlier on.

 

[loud 1]

That's Coventry.

It's almost as far north as Carlisle in the North/South divide thing.

Watford, just outside Zone 6, is the limit of "The South".

live in london do we?

 

[rikwakefield]

It was a 2kg weight.

 

[Louloubelle]

a more detailed account (allegedly) here

 

[rikwakefield]

If a child's behaviour can lead you to this sort of outburst then teaching isn't for you. I think prison would be more suitable.

 

[ExtraRefined]

a more detailed account (allegedly) here

Sounds like a reasonable response. Hope the kid dies, and the teacher is found innocent.

 

[rikwakefield]

Sounds like a reasonable response. Hope the kid dies, and the teacher is found innocent.

Seriously?

 

[Balbi]

This is being blown out of proportion. How else do you demonstrate Newton's laws of motion?

 

[Louloubelle]

If a child's behaviour can lead you to this sort of outburst then teaching isn't for you. I think prison would be more suitable.

Clearly his response was completely inappropriate and wrong.

The fact that this very popular teacher had been off work for weeks with stress related illness suggests that he may have been having a breakdown or possibly just have been sleep deprived. Apologies for pointing out the bleedin obvious but he obviously needed more time off work to recover, but for whatever reason (professional duty, not wanting to let other teachers down, caring about the kids, whatever) he went back to work when he should have been at home.

When people are pushed to breaking point by stress they can act in ways that are "out of character" as this act clearly was.

I'm not making an excuse for what he did. Just pointing out that most people can act in ways that are out of character, including being violent, if they are under immense stress.

 

[detective-boy]

apparently it's attempted murder now

Hmmmm ... I wouldn't put money on that being the final outcome - if the more detailed report of the incident is right, the second blow would probably be enough to mean he had to be arrested on suspicion of this, but the incident has s.18 GBH (with intent to cause GBH) written all over it at worst (manslaughter if the kid dies).

 

[spanglechick]

awful, awful case. if he'd been off with stress, as reported, i suspect he wasn't ready - may never have been ready - to return to the chalkface. The thing is, teenagers are testing. You have to be completely together to face the myriad ways they have to wind you up, provoke and insult you.

Make no mistake, this man will have coped with similar provocation over and over and over for his whole career. He'll have coped because you wouldn't last your first month otherwise. This wasn't a temprement unsuited. This wasn't a rational man who took so much and then snapped. This is someone who hadn't recovered from a breakdown and shouldn't have been in the classroom.

just awful. there's a lot of questions to be answered about whether his doctor should have allowed him to return to work, whether he was under pressure from the school to return - but at the end of the day, as a teacher you have to have responsibility for knowing yourself.

I feel for the boy, of course. And also for his daughters, who will surely now have to move schools.