yikes! uk teacher hits student with a dumbbell

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/24/teacher-dumbbell-peter-harvey-community-order

... and we complain about students that sleep and read books in class, etc. At least we don't have to put up with the kind of things that those poor bastard qualified teachers have to (for many more hours of the day).

Not that he should've hit the kid in the head with a dumbbell though.

Dumbbell, meet dumbbell

i was talking to my brother the other day and he said 'it's so stupid how everyone in england pretends it's a decent country but

A dumbbell is a terrible thing to waste.

Probably the best thing would be to give him early retirement. The guy's certianly paid his dues, and already paid plenty (8 months in prison). It's clear he'll never teach again, and that may be the hardest thing for him.

It's sad that the one boy paid for the whole bloody class. I wonder how many of his classmates understand their own complicity? Probably not a one. How do you punish them? Do you advertise their names, especially that of the girl with the camera?

Those with a conscience suffer all their lives, and those without suffer nothing.

Those with a conscience suffer all their lives, and those without suffer nothing.

the kids at my school can get a bit rowdy at times which makes any sort of class discussion an impossibility, after a few bangs on the desk and shouting if it doesnt subside, i just take a seat and take out my book and ignore them. i figure if they dont want to listen to my class then im not going to put the effort in for them. their behaviour is tame compared to what i was used to in the uk. at least here there arent huge drug issues, where the kids are so stoned you dont know what they will do and you can confidently use the blackboard without the chance of a flying chair wack you on the neck. so all in all its relatively tame here.

Sounds like the little mofos at the world's worst middle school I spent one hellish year teaching at in Florida.

It's only a matter of time before kids vermin like this push a teacher too far and someone gets killed.

fox, I've done similar things when there was no use continuing. Not often, because I'm a stubborn SOB and hate to give up, but I have done so. In one class, I just stopped in the middle of my explanation, took out my mobile phone and called a friend.

"I thought you had classes all morning?"
"I do, but this class doesn't want to learn anything. They're just wasting my time, so I'm going to send them off to lunch early. Do you want to meet me for lunch somewhere?"

I talked to my friend for about 3 or 4 minutes before hanging up.The kids were so busy waiting for me to say, "Xia ke le", they didn't notice the bell ring.

A friend of mine did have a chair thrown at him by a student. The kid was so flustered he missed, and my friend dared the kid to try it again. The second time the kid hit his target, and my friend told him the truth these kids all need to hear:
"I'm going to report this, and we're both going to get what we want. You're out of my class. You're out of my school. You're out of school entirely. You won't just be suspended for a week; because you did it twice, you'll be suspended for good. Me, I'll take a medical leave and be on paid holiday. Thank you." 

The UK fellow had already been "on leave" because of [undefined] nervous issues....read "breakdown" .....and was NOT ready to return to any classroom, IMHO.

As to the behaviour(s) of students They're why I choose to teach in our Prisons system....muuuuch safer

When I went back to university, my initial plan was to go into education. I ended up getting an honours degree in philosophy thinking I was going to go on to grad school etc (woops). Most useless degree ever (career-wise). Sometimes I think, dang, if only I had that education degree maybe I could be making big bucks somewhere, but then I talk to people I know back in Canada who went into education and left after a year of teaching, and really, a B.Ed. doesn't seem to be that much of a boon for people living the easy life in China.

For sure there are some cushy jobs in china teaching, in fact a couple of months ago i was asked to teach in a college, i went for a visit there - beautiful place, nice apartment, wages were good for the few classes expected to teach. I did a sample class and i was well impressed with the students. but in the end i declined because i kinda felt that it was too easy, i mean im not one for shying from a comfortable life but having a bit of grief in your working day keeps it real. i think you can go off on a weird head trip if life is too comfortable. The other reason i declined was that the powers to be in my existing place almost had heart palpatations when i told them i was considering another place and they quickly threw more money at me.  In the end it was a no brainer.

I was thinking more along the lines of just about any EFL job in China is the easy life compared to working as a certified teacher in a western country.

The school in question, where this happened, is but a stone throw from my hometown. Nottingham, my 'hometown' has the highest crime rate in the UK. Higher than Belfast! You have no idea how disrespectful the kids are to teachers back in the UK.

It's a good job Robin Hood is due out this month - if only he could rectify everything!

Bring back the cane.

Just to offer my thoughts about this matter - I don't actually blame the guy for lashing out, YES it was extreme, but I myself work in a UK high school and you need to understand that the kids do what they want, say what they want, and basically teaching staff are given no care or support from senior staff. I recently went off sick for 2 weeks due to masses amounts of anxiety and low moods because of horrible students. Everyday I get verbally abused and nothing gets done about it. Just last week I was pushed by a student.

It's scary the way things are in UK secondary schools, and something needs to be done. This is the reason why I'm getting the hell out of this country.