Way back when, my grandfather was a young principal in an elementary school filled with troublesome children.
Within a year, he had set a State record for the number or corporal punishments administered. Disciplinary problems had dropped to the single digits, and apparently, judging from the recorded grades, average student IQ had been raised a good 20 points or more.
However, a new student, and his mother, proved to be problematic. Just a second grader, he was a violent psychopath who frequently and seriously attacked teachers, injured other students, disrupted class and even threw a cage of gerbils out a third story window, killing the animals.
His mother had only set one foot in the door of the principals office before she was loudly threatening anyone and everyone with lawsuits if they dared to lay hands on, or otherwise discipline her son. She was far ahead of her time in litigiousness, in the society of that day, and she had for years retained a lawyer to file lawsuits as soon as possible whenever she felt offended. And she made it a practice to be offended, which supplemented her income nicely.
My grandfather assured her that neither he or any teacher would discipline her child. While disappointed that she therefore had no reason to sue, she was still satisfied to some extent, and just departed his office with the stern warning that nobody had better touch her “sweet darling”, or a suit would be filed on that same day.
My grandfather, however, had imagined a loophole in that agreement. He rearranged the dangerous child’s schedule in a small way, so that he could not injure the other 2nd graders. He did this by having the boy take recess with the 5th and 6th graders instead.
For their part, the older children were both tough and not inclined to suffer abuse at the hands of the 2nd grader. Soon, they were waiting in line to give him a good thumping.
When his mother dearest returned to the school to complain, he directed her and her lawyer to take up the matter with the parents of the 5th and 6th graders. But since most of them lived in or near poverty, little was hoped to be gained by suing them.
He noted that after that there was some improvement in the boy’s behavior, though at the end of the school year his mother moved him to a new school, perhaps in hope of a more fertile ground for profitable lawsuits.
That story warms my heart!
I think this is more reason to end gov’t schools altogether. No wonder the kids grow up thinking they can do whatever they want. The teacher needs to be able to spank the kids in front of the class instantly or there isnt much point in it. Public humiliation works every time its tried!