SC Cop drags student across the floor in class room

[strummingram]

The kid was being disobedient. No one doubts that. But, it did not require the actions chosen by the cop. Those actions have now made this a national story. Kids are disobedient. It happens millions of times a day, every day. Now we have the ability to see what's happening in isolated situations that we never had 20, 30, 40+ years ago. We, as a society, have allowed our conditions to get to this point.

 

[The Tradition]

The kid was being disobedient. No one doubts that. But, it did not require the actions chosen by the cop. Those actions have now made this a national story. Kids are disobedient. It happens millions of times a day, every day. Now we have the ability to see what's happening in isolated situations that we never had 20, 30, 40+ years ago. We, as a society, have allowed our conditions to get to this point.

DUDE, 40 years ago, schoolteachers and principals were allowed to BEAT STUDENTS WITH WOODEN PADDLES. We are doing much better today.

 

[rocketclone]

I read the article and the she is just a kid argument doesn't fly anymore. Life is simple, when a police officer tells you to get up, you get up. When they turn the lights on you pull over. You listen. If there is a problem don't bring it up to the officer, address it later in court. Simple.

I would hate to be an officer now. I think a lot of them anymore sit in the car and wait for things to cool down or for someone to be shot then they get involved. Too many phones around.

 

[naturalmwa]

I am closing in on 20 years in education. Evacuating the whole class is a step we consider. It takes away the audience. Is it ridiculous that the other kids have their learning disrupted? No doubt. It is better than seeing yourself on CNN. Kids are still kids, but parents have changed. I wouldn't want my daughters to be 'roughed' up like that...but I wouldn't have allowed their behaviors to get to the point of defiance.

I am not hating on the cop, but he should have figured another way around the situation.

Agree, sometimes I think authorities need to be willing to be disrespected and take a loss even if they are technically in the right.

 

[5446myno]

He didn't yank her by her hair.

So, everybody should have sat there while the school resource officer had a "Dr. Phil" session with her? Is that what our society has become?

If that's the only alternative you can think of then you would make a lousy teacher/parent.

 

[dbq hawk 32]

I had to take my students out of class the other day for a similar incident. Did it disrupt the class? Yes. Would I have been able to keep teaching after a student was dragged out of their desk by a SRO in front of the class? No. There is no good option, but one option results in the student being disciplined, and the other results in a SRO being disciplined. I know which one I prefer.

 

[naturalmwa]

Yup. In Junior high, we had an option: take the paddling, or call parents.

I always took the swats.

How did that work? Did they really keep whatever you did from the Parents?

 

[BubsFinn]

The

So you think it's reasonable to turn that into a police matter?

And you also think it's reasonable to grab kids by the hair and yank them around violently when they don't listen, even if they aren't causing any real harm?

You have serious issues.

The chewing gum wasn't the issue. Her refusal to follow the rules was. Her refusal to do as she was told was. She caused the situation, not the guy who's job it is to deal will disrespectful a-hold students who don't give two s***s about their education.

 

[Tom Paris]

I'm fine with him grabbing her and pulling her out of the desk, but that was a little over the top. Clearly she was being a problem on some level and she was not cooperating with the adults in charge, but there's plenty of room between physically removing her from the classroom and that.

You try and pull a student out of a school desk politely. This is 100% on the kid. I have zero sympathy for her and it is ridiculous that the officer is suspended. I ask, what was the police officer to do?

 

[The Tradition]

How did that work? Did they really keep whatever you did from the Parents?

Yup.

 

[The Tradition]

You try and pull a student out of a school desk politely. This is 100% on the kid. I have zero sympathy for her and it is ridiculous that the officer is suspended. I ask, what was the police officer to do?

He should have given her a hug and apologized to her for all of society's shortcomings.

 

[Tom Paris]

Per kids in the class, there was no disruption to the learning environment, and it was an issue over chewing gum.

If you think the police should be involved in any way you have issues.

If you think that type of force was in any way reasonable, you have serious issues.

So you believe the kids. How cute.

 

[Tom Paris]

So you think it's reasonable to turn that into a police matter?

And you also think it's reasonable to grab kids by the hair and yank them around violently when they don't listen, even if they aren't causing any real harm?

You have serious issues.

So you think it's fine for students to defy their teachers or adults in authority, such as police officers. She was given a command. She refused to comply. The officer asked her, basically, "Easy way or hard way?" She chose unwisely. Maybe ask, if a teacher asks you to spit out your gum, is it really that big of a deal? The student turned something very small and it escalated to this. All she had to do was spit out her gum.

 

[5446myno]

The

The chewing gum wasn't the issue. Her refusal to follow the rules was. Her refusal to do as she was told was. She caused the situation, not the guy who's job it is to deal will disrespectful a-hold students who don't give two s***s about their education.

There was no disruption to the class until the police showed up.The teacher explained to the class later that he'd asked her to take out her gum, they didn't even no why she was in trouble.

Meaning that her apparent refusal to remove her gum was being treated as a criminal offense. Even aside from the physical abuse of a minor, I'm surprised more people aren't taken aback by treating this as a matter of crime and punishment. As someone who understands that once a kid becomes involved in the criminal justice system they start to become normallized into such behavior, and are thus more likely to commit crimes later as a result. We've torn down a barrier at that point.

Even if you have so little control over your own emotions that you feel good about this girl suffering harm as a result of her behavior, I'd at least hope you understood the world enough to know that treating children like this makes the world in which you live a worse place. We involve kids in the criminal justice system earlier and earlier, and they adjust accordingly. It starts to become no big deal. It would at least be nice if you had a sense of self-preservation, even if you don't have a sense of morality.

 

[5446myno]

So you think it's fine for students to defy their teachers or adults in authority, such as police officers.

Of course not, don't be stupid.

? The teacher turned something very small and it escalated to this.

As a former teacher, I have taken the liberty of correcting your statement.

There are means of disciplining the student that wouldn't have been so disruptive, and that wouldn't have caused such trauma to the student. They wouldn't even have required the student to move, and would have avoided that whole scene.

They would have required the teacher to sublimate his ego for the rest of the period, though. Let her keep chewing the freaking gum and continue to sit there quielty, then suspend her, or inflict some other sort of discipline after class. As long as the other kids know that method of discipline was instituted you don't even encourage other bad behavior Not that tough, really.

 

[Tom Paris]

Of course not, don't be stupid.


As a former teacher, I have taken the liberty of correcting your statement.

There are means of disciplining the student that wouldn't have been so disruptive, and that wouldn't have caused such trauma to the student. They wouldn't even have required the student to move, and would have avoided that whole scene.

They would have required the teacher to sublimate his ego for the rest of the period, though. Let her keep chewing the freaking gum and continue to sit there quielty, then suspend her, or inflict some other sort of discipline after class. As long as the other kids know that method of discipline was instituted you don't even encourage other bad behavior Not that tough, really.

So what do you do when she refuses your consequence? Again? Is the teacher in charge or the kids?

 

[5446myno]

So what do you do when she refuses your consequence? Again? Is the teacher in charge or the kids?

Seriously? Let's say the discipline was suspension. How's she going to refuse? You think she'll show up and sit down in her seat the next day anyway?

Being in charge doesn't mean you have complete and total control at all times. Once you understand that, you can adjust and preserve your authority. If you don't grasp that, I assume you'll end up calling the cops a lot. But then the kids know you aren't in charge of the class after all. All that says is that you aren't capable of handling basic situations.

 

[Pinehawk]

That was excessive force and the officer should be fired. Misbehaving in a classroom does not warrant getting choked and thrown across the classroom.
The rest of the kids got a lesson that day as well, that the police are quick to resort to violence to solve their problems.

 

[The Tradition]

Seriously? Let's say the discipline was suspension. How's she going to refuse? You think she'll show up and sit down in her seat the next day anyway?

With this one, she just might do that. What's you next move, Oh, Wise One?

 

[5446myno]

With this one, she just might do that. What's you next move, Oh, Wise One?

You realize you're working with parents at that point too, right?

But sure, let's assume that she leaves the house anyway, makes her way to school and gets in before she's able to be stopped, and gets to the room bound and determined to take her seat in your classroom because a single day's education just means that much to her. So you stand in front of her urging her to leave, and to get by you she needs to assault you.

At that point, be my guest and contact authorities. She's committed the assault instead of an adult authority figure committing an assault in front of a roomful of children. In other words, even in that unlikely event you still have a better outcome than you have in this case.

 

[Herkmeister]

I'm not sure what she did prior to the altercation, but I cannot imagine that what the cop resorted to was necessary, regardless. I'm not excusing the student's willful disobedience at all. I just find it hard to believe that it required anywhere near that kind of force to take care of the situation.

I don't think the cop expected the desk to fall backward. Her resistance caused that.

 

[Tom Paris]

Seriously? Let's say the discipline was suspension. How's she going to refuse? You think she'll show up and sit down in her seat the next day anyway?

Being in charge doesn't mean you have complete and total control at all times. Once you understand that, you can adjust and preserve your authority. If you don't grasp that, I assume you'll end up calling the cops a lot. But then the kids know you aren't in charge of the class after all. All that says is that you aren't capable of handling basic situations.

You are going to suspend a kid for chewing gum? Really? That makes no sense. The kid will be more than happy to spend a day off at home. Maybe you have a consequence like cleaning desks for gum chewers. Then they refuse. What do you do next?

 

[Tom Paris]

That was excessive force and the officer should be fired. Misbehaving in a classroom does not warrant getting choked and thrown across the classroom.
The rest of the kids got a lesson that day as well, that the police are quick to resort to violence to solve their problems.

She chose to be yanked out of her desk. She was given a choice. She chose stupid.

 

[lucas80]

Cops shouldn't be in classrooms. When they are this happens. In my mind she resisted and he used force, which he is authorized to do. The bigger question to me is why we're the police called, and do administrators rely on the police too much? Specifically is it a legal shield?
I'd have called the janitor and disassembled the chair around the student. Let their ass hit the ground.

 

[Fan In Black]

I'm confused. Who turned it into a police matter? I am assuming there isn't a cop sitting in every classroom waiting to interject when they think deem it nessacary.

That's not incompatible with what those kids are saying. She was being told to leave over gum.

You think that's a police matter?

Also, she was so disruptive the students are saying they had no idea what she had done, she was just sitting there quietly beforehand. Not that it should make a difference.

Do you think the teacher and AP were wrong calling for the cop in this case?

 

[iowalaker]

The youth of today are pretty much turning into shitbags.

 

[iowalaker]

When I was in 6th grade we had an old lady for a teacher. She was probably 70 at the time. This was about 18 years ago now. She had a big wooden paddle from her old days. She was always willing to volunteer to whack anyone over the rear with it, as long as you asked for it. It was sort of a right of passage for the boys to act tough. That old lady made several boys tear up. She went high on me, and practically caught my tailbone flush. Hurt like a mother.......I always think about how harmless and fun it was when one day a kid got the courage up to ask for it.

 

[dbq hawk 32]

The youth of today are pretty much turning into shitbags.

Wonder whose fault that is....

 

[The Tradition]

Wonder whose fault that is....

I blame Kanye and Kim. Oh, and that little bitch who used to be on the Disney Channel. She's definitely part of the problem.

 

[dbq hawk 32]

I blame Kanye and Kim. Oh, and that little bitch who used to be on the Disney Channel. She's definitely part of the problem.

Which one, because I could use a lot more selena gomez in my news feed...

 

[whatsup13579er]

Yup. In Junior high, we had an option: take the paddling, or call parents.

I always took the swats.

Problem is that your parents would have sided with the teacher/principal and reamed you when you got home. Nowadays parents will side with their kid and blame the teacher/principal. Kids will gladly make that phone call home now and probably be rewarded for it.

 

[Tom Paris]

The more I think about it the more irritated I get. Some people say the teacher's aren't allowed to discipline. Then the administrators aren't allowed to discipline. Now the school cop can't discipline students...or remove them or whatever. Do you not understand that this is the problem with public education? I asked a few classes of middle school, inner city students several years ago this question. Hypothetically, would they be afraid to misbehave if the consequence was "caning" on stage in a school assembly in front of the entire school, and there was NO WAY of avoiding the consequence. To a kid they said they would think twice about popping off in class. The kids aren't afraid. If you put a true punitive discipline system, where the kids were actually fearful of the consequence, the behaviors would stop...except for the flat out crazy kids. Your normal kids who can think for themselves, once they saw the consequence administered to a classmate and there, again, was no way to avoid it, would cut the crap. I guarantee you.

But it will never happen because we are far too soft as a society.

 

[Pinehawk]

If you want to solve that situation with violence, you are going to create a culture of more violence in that setting.

 

[5446myno]

The more I think about it the more irritated I get. Some people say the teacher's aren't allowed to discipline.

Who says this? Please provide examples. No one ever told me this when I was teaching.

Now, they do say you should find effective means by which you provide discipline, and that clearly wasn't followed here.

 

[Vroom_C14]

Well the kids are lying. The video clearly shows the issue was her refusing to leave after being told to do so.

Go to a place of business, cause a problem and refuse to leave. Report back to us on what happens.

Question - did she spit the gum on the cop? If so, that is assault.

 

[Vroom_C14]

Who says this? Please provide examples. No one ever told me this when I was teaching.

Now, they do say you should find effective means by which you provide discipline, and that clearly wasn't followed here.

"Effective means" today is nothing more than talking to them, trying to calm them through soothing chants or having them reflect on quoates by jack handy.

Back in the day the teacher would yank you out of your chair, pin you against the locker, either smack you for being disrespectful or (as the officer did) escort your a$$ to the principal. Anymore teachers are "hands off"...

 

[Tom Paris]

Who says this? Please provide examples. No one ever told me this when I was teaching.

Now, they do say you should find effective means by which you provide discipline, and that clearly wasn't followed here.

Teachers are told ALL THE TIME that they can't give consequences. You can't take away their recess. You can't make them write sentences. You can't make them sit in time out. We are soft.

 

[86Hawkeye]

I am completely okay with the cop doing this. I'm betting she was disturbing the learning environment of the kids who are actually there to learn, and she is probably a repeat offender/known pain in the ass. We need more of this in classrooms...not less.

I agree.

If we're going to push teachers to do a better job then we should at least help them keep the classrooms under control.

 

[Tom Paris]

Question - did she spit the gum on the cop? If so, that is assault.

Here is another example...this teacher just was told she couldn't say something jokingly - I literally just got this email ------

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING!!!!! I now can’t joke around about art jail to any kids. It scares them.

 

[HawkFantastic]

Yup. In Junior high, we had an option: take the paddling, or call parents.

I always took the swats.

In Middle School I did the parent route. My Mom was an English Teacher and she would get told about my actions in the hall, lounge, etc. and she ignored them. If somebody called home about what I did, she and Dad would have dealt with my crap. She figured she should get a call like any other parent.