CA - Bakersfield High School Teacher Duct Tapes Student

[txsvicki]

I think the duct tape was wrong because it is giving back disrespect for being disrespected. The student is almost grown and he really is showing some initiative by complaining about the issue. If he were some genuine delinquent he would have just slunk off to some other troublemaking or even be in an alternative school. No one would put up with a boss duct taping them, the police, spouses, and parents can't do it to their kids nowadays either, or even threaten to tape kids' mouths, so the teacher should behave the same as is expected of everyone else. What bothers me is not that it was such a horrible thing to do, but why this teacher thought that she could do it and get away with it. If more early help, testing, proper IEPs, modifications, listening to parents, answering parent's questions, etc. were given to students who are disruptive, there would be much less trouble in the long run. Disruption is not normal in adults, so it should not be considered just meanness in children. Something is wrong somewhere that is not being corrected and it might not even be correctable but kids are required by law to attend school. My grandsons are not mean or spoiled and I am not doing anything wrong. They were exposed to drugs, have learning disabilities, and definitely have ADD and possibly other mental health problems that doctors are very reluctant to diagnose.

 

[NaNaRosebud]

Maybe its time for some accountability on the kids part and the parents part. Your kids suffer daily b/c of all the disruptions by kids like him. Kids like this deprive yours of an education. Always remember that.

Amen to that!!!!! I'm a teacher. If parents ONLY know how much teaching time it takes out of the teaching day to deal with unruly students. You'd be AMAZED and wonder how in the world anyone in the classroom learns a THING!

Teaching has become a battlefield occupation what with the school shooting, kids bringing weapons into the building (at ALL ages, btw) and parents ALWAYS taking up for their spoiled brats who they never disiplined at home but expect the school to mold into ideal citizens during 6 hours 5 days a week!

If ONLY the parents of the GOOD kids knew what REALLY goes on in classrooms that have these behavior problem kids, you'd all be protesting and maybe the rights of the GOOD kids would become paramount instead of the rights of all the BAD kids.

 

[julianne]

It's a shame that so many kids in your school are on medications. Our area has no where near that many on medications. But I believe you're seeing the result of what happens when mom and dad can't administer a good ole' fashioned arse whooping when the kid jumps outta line. Next best thing for control in the house? Medication. Sadly I believe this to be pretty accurate.

It IS a shame, and this is labeled the best school district in the entire state. The school is still considered "new", only 3 years old, has some of the best technology & computer labs, and is by all accounts, a really good school located in a very nice area.

The high amount of kids on daily medications isn't specific to my area, though. Look at the statistics. The amount of prescriptions written for these kids has risen by tens of thousands each and every year since the early 90's. It's nationwide. It's at epidemic proportions. We now have kids who are seniors in high school and just starting college who have NEVER been un-medicated for even one day during their whole school career.

I understand what your saying about this being a result of parents being unable to give arse whippings. But, I don't think that's it. I think parents just don't care. It's tough to parent teenagers these days, I know, I have one. And I can tell you firsthand that I feel like throwing in the towel many times and just giving up. My kid tells me that I am TOO INVOLVED in his life and his activities and he wishes I was like his friends parents. Hmmph...nice try, I tell him. So many parents take such an INactive role in parenting and it's to the demise of their kids. I can't tell you how many times I have said to my teenager "Go ahead and hate me now. It tells me that I'm doing my job. You will love me for this in 5-10 years." Of course, he has never SAID he hates me because he knows full well that he doesn't want to travel down that road, but I know he sure has thought it more than a few times.

 

[julianne]

I just want to reiterate that I know that for some kids, medicating them is the only answer. I don't fault parents who have tried all other avenues to no avail. I DO have a problem with people who medicate their children just to make their life easier, and it just seems that there is an abundance of that these days. I think it's all going to come crashing down on these kids, in some form, one way or another.

 

[lymom3]

I have a medicated son and two unmedicated. I would never put my other kids on meds to make them *easier* to handle. I'd give anything if the medicated one didn't need meds. He is 18 now and understands that he is never going to be able to be part of society and a person that he respects without being medicated. There were years that it was a fight to get him to take meds and when he didn't trouble followed him wherever he went.

I do resent parents that use medications improperly because when you do have a child that needs to be medicated, it gets harder to get meds (certain kinds) because so many parents have abused the privileges. My stepdaughter will have her PhD in May and goes to University of Ohio for her doctoral studies. It has been a real wake up call for her to have kids to work with (her degree will be in special ed with her emphasis on autistic children) whose parents take their kids meds, sell their kids meds for money etc. She has had to work to find family members that doctors would give the scripts to for these kids as the parents weren't a viable option; family members that would give them the meds they need.

Two sides to every coin, I guess.

 

[kylie]

Here's how I handle disruptions in my high school classroom...if there are any major disruptions the entire class has to stay 1 minute,...if it continues , I add 1 more minute...it usually does the trick and puts pressure on the knuckleheads to settle down..............
The really hard core ones I just kick out..........my class is so structured that they figure out pretty quick that if they don't work they wil fail..........

 

[GlitchWizard]

!

My son fears the principal. Because he knows that once he's done there he's gotta come home. And when he gets home his punishments vary. I've had them range from no tv to stripping beds and washing walls. (I worked every ounce of defiance and energy outta that body that day!)

Hehe, I've been tempted to duct tape him more than a couple times. :blushing:

Washing walls? Nooooooooooooooooooooo! Mom made me do that. That completely bites!

 

[2sisters]

Amen to that!!!!! I'm a teacher. If parents ONLY know how much teaching time it takes out of the teaching day to deal with unruly students. You'd be AMAZED and wonder how in the world anyone in the classroom learns a THING!

Teaching has become a battlefield occupation what with the school shooting, kids bringing weapons into the building (at ALL ages, btw) and parents ALWAYS taking up for their spoiled brats who they never disiplined at home but expect the school to mold into ideal citizens during 6 hours 5 days a week!

If ONLY the parents of the GOOD kids knew what REALLY goes on in classrooms that have these behavior problem kids, you'd all be protesting and maybe the rights of the GOOD kids would become paramount instead of the rights of all the BAD kids.

My husband is a teacher. He teaches the same class back to back. In the first class he is ahead of schedule. All of the kids listen and are attentive. They always have a little free time at the end b/c thing run so smooth. The next class that comes in is half repeats from last year, a few kids from teh alternative school and one who can't speak english and they are disruptive and he barely has control. he sends at lesat one student out a day. This class is so off schedule and behind that he barely had them ready for exams this week. He spends his off period a couple days a week meeting with parents who are mad that johnny no listen and susie flirter are failing or with a parent who is mad that he kicked their kid out of class. Teachers def. do not get paid enough for what they do.

 

[Mr. E]

My husband is a teacher. He teaches the same class back to back. In the first class he is ahead of schedule. All of the kids listen and are attentive. They always have a little free time at the end b/c thing run so smooth. The next class that comes in is half repeats from last year, a few kids from teh alternative school and one who can't speak english and they are disruptive and he barely has control. he sends at lesat one student out a day. This class is so off schedule and behind that he barely had them ready for exams this week. He spends his off period a couple days a week meeting with parents who are mad that johnny no listlen and susie flirter are failing or with a parent who is mad that he kicked their kid out of class. Teachers def. do not get paid enough for what they do.

I do not understand this, but I encounter it all the time as a teacher. Child fails/is failing; parent is notified; parent becomes irate at teacher. Meanwhile, the kid sits there pleased because he is not the one getting his chewed by Mom and Dad over a failing grade -- the teacher gets it!

 

[2sisters]

I do not understand this, but I encounter it all the time as a teacher. Child fails/is failing; parent is notified; parent becomes irate at teacher. Meanwhile, the kid sits there pleased because he is not the one getting his chewed by Mom and Dad over a failing grade -- the teacher gets it!

I don't either. Zero accountability for kids anymore. I applaud this woman for duct taping the kid. I bet there will be no more disipline problems in her class.

 

[MrsMush99]

My husband is a teacher. He teaches the same class back to back. In the first class he is ahead of schedule. All of the kids listen and are attentive. They always have a little free time at the end b/c thing run so smooth. The next class that comes in is half repeats from last year, a few kids from teh alternative school and one who can't speak english and they are disruptive and he barely has control. he sends at lesat one student out a day. This class is so off schedule and behind that he barely had them ready for exams this week. He spends his off period a couple days a week meeting with parents who are mad that johnny no listen and susie flirter are failing or with a parent who is mad that he kicked their kid out of class. Teachers def. do not get paid enough for what they do.

My husband is a teacher too! He doesn't have out of control students though. I have no idea what he does, but it seems to work. He's told me that in his 15 years of teaching he's only sent a student to the dean once!

 

[BarnGoddess]

How things have changed, drastically. When I went to high school (graduated 1962), we didn't have assistant principals, but a Dean of Girls and Dean of Boys. They were responsible for the discipline. The Dean of Girls, had this thing about clothes and sex. We did dress properly then, no shorts, no slacks for girls, etc., just dresses and skirts and proper blouses. However, she had this thing about the color red and patent leather shoes. Red excited boys too much and boys could look down at the top of your patent leather shoes and see up your dress. I swear it. I was called into her office because I had patent leather shoes on that day. My mother thought I had lost my mind when I told her I couldn't wear them. I called her from the Dean's office for her to bring me other shoes. She lost it and stormed to school and told the old broad to get her mind out of the gutter. The Dean of Boys had a paddle he occasionally used. He would take them in the hall and paddle though, never behind closed doors. A couple of the really popular and decent kids got a small paddling on occasion, but never told their parents. Too embarrassing.

Now, about 3 or 4 years later, the school makeup changes drastically. There's bussing and integration. My dad still was teaching his calculus, trig, physics. He also had a remedial math class. He had continual problems with one kid who was constantly harrassing one girl in class. One day the kid grabbed the girl's breasts and she screamed. My dad went over to the kid, picked him out of his seat by his ear and pushed him against the wall. He then marched him to the principal. The kid was going to sue, etc. Turns out they had a big meeting with the kid's mother and she thanked my father for his action. He was an out of control kid with no positive male role models and his mother had problems with him. My dad said he could come back to class, behave himself and if he needed help understanding the math, then he'd help him after school. The kid did behave and started doing better once grasped some concepts of math my dad helped him with.

So, although in hindsight, my dad wouldn't have put him against the wall, it turned out to benefit the kid in the long run.

 

[2sisters]

Your dad may have actually prevented a future rape by putting his foot down with that boy barngoddess.

 

[LinasK]

It took her 30 years to break? How much of a disruption was he? A MAJOR one obviously. How about they focus on that. Where are the headlines that say, "Teacher with 30 years of experience risks job and reputation over a rotten student!" Where are those headlines? No he's the victim. OF WHAT! Duct tape? Here's a headline, "Male student acts like little girl over duct tape because he didn't get his way!"

They're both equal victims here. Both are victims of HIS behavior. She just tried to resolve it. Maybe not in the way I would personally like, but this is an older woman who goes back to the days of an old fashioned butt whooping. And that is EXACTLY what he deserves for:

A. Disrupting Class, and
B. Acting like an immature baby about the entire incident

And yes, if it was my kid I would've told him sit down and shut up next time. I would've called the teacher and asked her next time to send him to the office instead trying to argue with him. AND then I would've made my son go back and apologize for acting up. What happened to people being able to resolve things between each other? Are we incapable of this anymore? Then we act shocked our kids have no people skills as young adults.

He's in high school. He should know better.

/rant off

Sorry, I strongly disagree. This was NOT the way to handle it!

I think the duct tape was wrong because it is giving back disrespect for being disrespected. The student is almost grown and he really is showing some initiative by complaining about the issue. If he were some genuine delinquent he would have just slunk off to some other troublemaking or even be in an alternative school. No one would put up with a boss duct taping them, the police, spouses, and parents can't do it to their kids nowadays either, or even threaten to tape kids' mouths, so the teacher should behave the same as is expected of everyone else. What bothers me is not that it was such a horrible thing to do, but why this teacher thought that she could do it and get away with it. If more early help, testing, proper IEPs, modifications, listening to parents, answering parent's questions, etc. were given to students who are disruptive, there would be much less trouble in the long run. Disruption is not normal in adults, so it should not be considered just meanness in children. Something is wrong somewhere that is not being corrected and it might not even be correctable but kids are required by law to attend school.

I agree with Txvicki!

 

[GlitchWizard]

Sorry, I strongly disagree. This was NOT the way to handle it!I agree with Txvicki!

Although I see no problem with the duct tape, I do respect that other people do have a problem with it, and that it should be addressed so we can come up with other options. Perhaps teachers should be taught what IS appropriate and be trained in the dicipline of today's rowdier youth.

I know a guy who teaches in a school for troubled boys - way troubled - and he was trained in how to restrain the kids without hurting them much. One day, his teenage daughter got out of control and he used one of the holds on her. He was investigated by child services and the mother was outraged.

What do people expect? You can either beat them, or restrain them - when saying "Please behave" isn't enough.

If there are other options, the teachers need to be made aware of what they are.

 

[eve]

Duct tape is not the correct way to handle a student but I know how this teacher felt! As teachers our hands are tied (duct taped, if you will) at every turn, by the administration, parents, lawyers, you name it. I teach at-risk (formerly called incorribles) kids and they are over the top! They have gotten by with so much for so long by the time I get them, if I can't turn them around, the next stop is prison. On the other hand my "mainstream" son gets written up if he sneezes the wrong way in school. The trivial things are focused on while the truly bad acts are often ignored. I've seen this time and time again. It's as if the administrators have given up and hone in on kids who actually have a conscience, with good parents who will back them up, while the others - the sociopaths and kids whose parents couldn't care less receive fewer and fewer constraints until they're completely out of control and lost.


Eve

 

[GlitchWizard]

Duct tape is not the correct way to handle a student but I know how this teacher felt! As teachers our hands are tied (duct taped, if you will) at every turn, by the administration, parents, lawyers, you name it. I teach at-risk (formerly called incorribles) kids and they are over the top! They have gotten by with so much for so long by the time I get them, if I can't turn them around, the next stop is prison. On the other hand my "mainstream" son gets written up if he sneezes the wrong way in school. The trivial things are focused on while the truly bad acts are often ignored. I've seen this time and time again. It's as if the administrators have given up and hone in on kids who actually have a conscience, with good parents who will back them up, while the others - the sociopaths and kids whose parents couldn't care less receive fewer and fewer constraints until they're completely out of control and lost.


Eve

You're right. My daughter noticed too. She is in a new program that needs funding - this is the first year and it HAS TO work - so the kids get away with hitting, spitting and they cuss right in front of the teacher - talking back and everything - no recourse. The kids have to like the school or it won't be funded, I guess. However, the dress code is enforced, down to what it says on your hooded jacket.

They refuse to tell the parents that the kids are horribly behaved - but something the parents can SEE, the dress of the student, they will point out.

 

[Bobbisangel]

I don't know-this kid is in high school-you'd think he'd have learned to sit down and shut up by now. He didn't have any problem talking while the teacher was teaching but couldn't open his mouth and say-no I don't want duct tape on my mouth?

If this was a 6 year old I'd feel bad but when you're in high school you ought to be able to behave properly in class. If it were my kid I'd probably tell him he got what he deserved for not listening to the teacher and make him apologize for disrupting the class. But that's just me-as my 2 year old will tell you I'm the meanest Mommy in the world.

Becca

I'm with you on this one. I would make bets that it wasn't just once that this happened with this kid. He probably pulled this all of the time and the teacher had reached the end of her rope.

When I was going to school years and years ago we wouldn't have dared disrupted the class by ignoring what the teacher was doing and ignoring her when she asked us to stop doing something. The principal had a big board in his office and he knew how to use it. Usually the boys are the ones who made it to his office to meet the board but it did happen once in a while. No one wanted to get whacked. Our teachers didn't put up with anything. We also had to draw a circle on the green board and put our nose in it if we misbehaved. That was pretty funny and it did happen now and then. We didn't look at that as abuse. We knew to behave and if we didn't then we deserved to have to stand up there in front of everyone. It was usually the class clowns who ended up in front of the room. They thought it was funny too. Just certain teachers bothered with the circle though.

If my kid disrupted the class and got taped and came home and whined about it he/she would be in even worse trouble. There would be an apology to the teacher and class too. High school is just to old to be pulling that stuff.