More Dull Kombat
Posted on February 23, 2005 @ 5:26 pm
How better to explain the concepts of power and deterrence to my students than with veiled threats of physical violence? Here’s a brief tangent from today’s lecture (reproduced to the best of my memory):
“When it comes to this classroom, I’m the one in charge — the big cheese. I’m also a realist. There’s only one of me and there are nearly fifty of you. If you guys decide you’re fed up with the way I teach or just tired of the way I look, there are more than enough of you to overpower and remove me. I’m not going to lie to you, though; I’m a pretty good fighter. Sure, you’ll probably manage to take me down eventually, but when the smoke clears, there are going to be plenty of bruised egos and more than a few broken bones. On the other hand, if I started bringing a knife to class…”
Trust me — it just goes downhill from there.
Posted by Jess | Filed Under Tales from the Classroom |
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And thus a promising teaching career was brought to a screeching halt … but at least you took the bastards down with you, eh?
oh man. but hey, at least you gave them an answer for the ‘how was school today’ question. that’s something at least.
How did you get the teaching gig again?
I hope, for your sake, there aren’t any 21 Jump Street folks in there, just waiting for you to slip up so they lock you away.
I hear there are tons of teaching opportunities in state prisons these days. I wouldn’t use that speech there though.
Love and Light
Why didn’t I have a prof like you when I was in college?
Do you think that speech would make a dent with a bunch of third graders?:)
Whoa, man! Don’t scare me like that! You don’t live in Ventura Co., CA do you? I hope not because I handle work comp injuries for all of the school districts there!
Oddly, I recently had a whole spate of teacher assault claims come in. One got hit in the face with a skateboard after he told some little punk to stop skating in the hall. I guess the little dork thought that meant “skate on my face instead”.
Another got socked in the back of the head by a large metal trashcan. Some kid actually managed to sneak up behind the teacher with the full-size can, loaded with trash, and bash him with it. Knocked him out cold. No one saw anything either, of course.
The last one was a male teacher who got beaten up by a girl. A Special Ed student no less. I guess her disability gave super human strength.
Anyway, sorry for the lengthy comment. I LOVE the look of your blog, BTW. Found your link on my brother’s blogroll at On the Fritz.