For teachers, there is nothing more sacred than the space of a classroom. While the sanctuary of rooms are sometimes shattered by violence, it remains thankfully rare. That makes the video this week particularly disturbing as physics teacher at John F. Kennedy High School in Paterson, New Jersey is attacked by one of his students. The other students do not come to the aid of the 62-year-old physics teacher as he is thrown to the ground by a sixteen-year-old student, though one student eventually comes over to tell the attacker to break off the attack. The teacher had taken the teenager’s cellphone.
The student has been charged with assault and the case seems pretty clear from the videotape. The question is whether the teenager will be charged as an adult, which is likely given his age and the violent character of the alleged crime. While New Jersey juvenile courts have exclusive authority over all criminal defendants under the age of 18, prosecutors are allowed to petition for the transfer of minors over the age of 14 who are accused of certain violent offenses.
Here is the video:
rsm – I always suggested math.com for math problems. 😉
lindalee-
“Several posters wonder why no student intervened. They may well be afraid of retribution by the thug.”
That’s ridiculous. A real thug would have decked that teacher once the teacher refused to give the phone back. Seeing in this video how immature that teacher is willing to be to preserve his authorit-eye, the kids most likely didn’t intervene because they view the teacher to be a dick.
This looks to me like a case of both the teacher and the student going overboard. Once the student indicated to the teacher that he was willing to get physical over the confiscated phone, the teacher should have given it back and told the student to leave. It was ridiculous for the teacher to cling to that cell phone like his life depended upon it. The teacher got caught up in such an authority trip that he was a willing participant in that disruption when a much simpler and more expedient solution was available.
Screw the teacher and the student. The other students ought to complain about both of them.
I must be the oldest cretin here. In my school says if anyone did what this kid did, the gym teacher, the closest thing to a gorilla possible and still be a homo sapiens, would come in to the room and beat the snot out of the offender…then drag him down the hall bouncing him off the lockers for good measure, then out the door. No parent dared to complain about their savage kid-let. What has happened to our schools?
I’m not spoofing either…in my urban school even in the 50’s we had periodic school wide shakedowns where “the gorilla” frisked you and checked you locker for knives or guns, which were occasionally found.
It was as safe an environment as you could get due to the scrutiny.
Aridog – who could forget the students from “Blackboard Jungle?”
I never went to a Cat O Lic school. But back when I was a humanoid in a prior life I lived down the street from Saint John and James Grade School in Ferguson. The neighborhood kids who went there had a song which sort of sets out the conflict between teachers and students at grade school level with the twist of having a nun for the teacher. Here are the lyrics sixty years later:
[music to Glory Glory Hallaluya|
Glory, Glory Hallalu Ya!
Sister hit me with a Ruler.
I beaned her in the bean
With a rotten tangerine!
And school kept marching on!
Chorus and upbeat etc second verse mean as the first.
Paul what do you have to hide? If you were a cop you would have to comply. What makes teachers so special? I mean you have more contact with troubled youtes than any cop on the beat.
We need to keep you honest. Just sayn’
I think if it is good enough for the cops then it is good enough for the teachers. We have the technology. What do they have to hide?
It’s for the “chidrun’s”
#thechildrunsisourfuture
issac,
“Geography teacher, ‘This class is not a democracy.’”
Ha! I had a history teacher tell our class that when I was in high school. LOL
Prairie Rose – I used to try to convince my students I was a benevolent dictator. 🙂
Nick
That’s why we are all here, to change for the better. You don’t ever want to get to be so wise you stop learning. Keep referring to me as young, innocent, and all that. I like that.
There was no epiphany. I have felt this way for some time, regarding teaching. We can all use someone’s empathy, I suppose.
This has made me so upset I can’t even think. These monsters have no respect for anything and I’m ashamed to say I am from America when I think of how alot of these kids act now. It was never anything like this when I was growing up. I’m 52. We need help from GOD now.
I agree with Trooperyork there should be a drive to force all teachers to wear body cameras. Every other day you hear about some teacher, school worker or student being abused by one or the other. This would protect both student, teacher & other. It sure might make for less fussing regarding facts. Perhaps ?
buckaroo – I would have quit teaching before I would have allowed my classes to be recorded. I would agree to this only if the film was wiped every day and not viewed unless there was an incident. Also, all of the administrators and staff would have to have cameras. All visitors to campus would be wired up to a camera. Fair is fair.
This youte should be prosecuted as an adult for assault and be hit with the fullest penalty under the law. The only reason he will be prosecuted is because it is on tape. If it had not been taped the administration would have been sure to cover it up and pressure the teacher to drop it. You see it is an “underprivileged youte” vs. and “old white man.” This kind of thing happens every other day in one form or another and is swept under the rug.
This brings up an interesting point. There is a drive to force all police to wear body cameras to film their interaction with the public. Why stop there? I think all teachers should wear body cameras as well. If you examine the statistics I bet there are more cases of teachers assaulting, sexually harassing or abusing students than those of cops acting in the same way. Every other day you hear about some teacher or school worker sexually abusing a student. If cops have to wear body cameras why not teachers as well?
This will protect both the student and the teacher. The administration will not be able to sweep these incidents under the rug and the students will not be subject to the unwanted advances of teachers who are being filmed by their body cams.
It’s a win/win!
Several posters wonder why no student intervened. They may well be afraid of retribution by the thug. If you have spent any time in a tough school, you probably have heard one kid say to another, in a threatening manner, “Snitches get Stitches.”
Isaac, Being fairly liberal socially, and fiscally conservative, I indeed can abide different views on different topics. Chris Rock does a great rant on this. I have expressed both liberal and conservative views here often. I just find your epiphany interesting and a bit amusing, that’s all. I have shown empathy, because I have changed my views in somewhat the same way as you. It is the way it’s supposed to work. I hope you keep changing for the better. I think you’re still fairly young. We should get wiser as we get older.
Isaac – good point. When parents keep defending their kids’ rights to misbehave, it’s the kids who suffer in the long run. We have many examples of this type of parenting every day on the news.
I recall reading about a study where many people experience anxiety when they don’t have their cell phones with them. That may be a warning sign that you have become too dependent on constant tech, if putting it down for a few minutes seems impossible.
As for the video, if any of us kids assaulted a teacher, I imagine we would prefer facing the police than our parents. Clearly, this child has been taught no values at home.
What was also distressing is that the other kids didn’t appear to know what to do, and were frozen. No one got up and peeled him off the teacher. So none of them have been taught to protect an elderly person from harm.
All around, a sad testament to the times.
Karen S wrote: “Clearly, this child has been taught no values at home.”
Statistically speaking, because he is black, he most likely has no father at home. Some will argue that doesn’t matter because of gender equality, gay equality, and all that nonsense. I think such does affect the kind of values being taught at home.
Karen S wrote: “So none of them have been taught to protect an elderly person from harm.”
Respecting elders is rarely known today. So many times on internet forums, young people see my avatar and cuss me out and mock me for being an “old man.”
Karen – the students not coming to the aid of the teacher could be because of his teaching or discipline style. You earn the respect of your students, you do not demand it. I do not think it has anything to do with his age.
Paul and Jim22
You are both right, however, the problem lies with the typical pendulum swing. When I was in school, right up to high school graduation, strapping, slapping, and being lifted off one’s feet by the gym teacher was the norm if you decided to test authority. That didn’t stop some kids. They simply targeted the weaker teachers. The two gym teachers at my high school taught other classes. No one messed with them. There is something to be said for a line that can’t be crossed.
The problem is that when corporal punishment was abolished so was discipline. In history, every time one means of containment is removed without another being installed, the result is chaos. The solution is, as with most things, multifaceted: better training for teachers, greater empowerment of teachers, and an understanding that, as was so well explained by my Geography teacher, ‘This class is not a democracy.’
issac – the one thing they really do not teach you in teacher school is classroom control. That is something you have to learn on your own. You have to find your own style and run with it.
Nick
Perhaps you will understand and then again perhaps not, that some people can enjoy perspectives from the left and the right, depending on the issues. I have experienced the emotions of both sides but it has been an unrelenting desire to view the left and the right through the lens of logic, common sense, and experience. Some things are better veering to the right and some to the left. The individual would not exist without society. Everything that is sacred is not correct. Learn to criticize that which is held holy. As far as Archie Bunker goes, he did come around from time to time.
Paul C. Schulte – “I would just hold out my hand and tell them to give to me and they would get it back after school. And I would wait them out. Eventually the other students would convince the student to give the phone and then class would go on.”
Really? This would work? I don’t see it. I see a punk today loving the fact that he is halting class. You have transferred the power to him. He gets to decide when class resumes. This seems like a bad precedent to set.
To me, the genie is out of the bottle on this kind of stuff. It will only get worse before it gets better and until the reset button is pushed on the whole country, you will never change any of this.
Jim22 – what eventually happens is that the other students use peer pressure on the student to give you the phone. Students cannot stand ‘dead air.’ You make the demand, put your hand out, make no sudden moves and you lose about 2 minutes of class time. No harm, no foul. You do not make a big deal about it and you have used your students to help you restore order in your classroom.
When I was subbing I was pushed, hard, by a senior basketball hotshot. I reported it to the principal. Nothing was done. I haven’t subbed since due to the lack of accountability. My choice.