Math teacher under investigation for slapping schoolgirls in Pathum Thani

[roo860]

It was very few kids that ever got hit (in each term) and only usually once by a particular teacher. You might, if you were a bit of a naughty kid, get disciplined by more than one teacher (like I did - but I found life at a top private school to be difficult. I never understood how my father could be paying these people yet I wasn't allowed to order them around like I could with our servants at home).

As for witches, if we still had the ugly hags running around scaring people I'd be all for burning them!

Did you give your servants a bit of a slap?

[Bluespunk]

I'm sure I'm going to be flamed to death for this, but I'm really sick with this "a slap is unacceptable, traumatizing violence" nonsense.

9th graders are no small kids. Look at these girls, some of them are taller than he is.

Have I been slapped by my teachers when I was a kid? yes, several times, although one of my primary school teacher, being a football (soccer for you americans) player, used to prefer a good kick in the butt

Was I traumatized? no

Am I angry at these teachers? not the tinest, for as far as I can recall I did really deserve it every time. Actually I'm still friends with that teacher with a good kick. He's a very old guy now.

"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."

Mahatma Gandhi

wow, a chance to disagree with Mahatma Ghandi.

I don't agree with taking the girls in front of the class and making sure they look bad like this or hitting them like this but a small clip around the ear might work. I don't believe the occasional clip that I got ever did me any harm, nor my school mates. In fact, I'm pretty certain we did our homework in the future.

Then I hope your TEFL qualification does not allow you near children.

[lovelomsak]

I'm sure I'm going to be flamed to death for this, but I'm really sick with this "a slap is unacceptable, traumatizing violence" nonsense.

9th graders are no small kids. Look at these girls, some of them are taller than he is.

Have I been slapped by my teachers when I was a kid? yes, several times, although one of my primary school teacher, being a football (soccer for you americans) player, used to prefer a good kick in the butt

Was I traumatized? no

Am I angry at these teachers? not the tinest, for as far as I can recall I did really deserve it every time. Actually I'm still friends with that teacher with a good kick. He's a very old guy now.

I agree with you 100%

Spar the rod spoil the child.

What has this no discipline the kids done for any one?

Now we have school shootings? Perhaps because they have not been taught limits.

Violence among youth has increased. Again poor life skills.

This not being able to use strong discipline is not working. Now the tail wags the dog.The uninformed ,uneducated youth have more say than there overseers.

Every once in a while some people need a correction moment, A good slap works wonders.

[Shawn0001]

If one of those girls was my daughter..that teacher would pay in the biggest way!!!

How?

..use your imagination....eye for an eye 10 fold maybe

It's either an eye for an eye or not, you can't increase your retaliation and still use the proverb, that's just silly.

[Pimay1]

A couple thousand Baht from the teacher to the parents and all will be well.

[trainman34014]

Violence....last refuge of the incompetent !

[farcanell]

I'm sure I'm going to be flamed to death for this, but I'm really sick with this "a slap is unacceptable, traumatizing violence" nonsense.

9th graders are no small kids. Look at these girls, some of them are taller than he is.

Have I been slapped by my teachers when I was a kid? yes, several times, although one of my primary school teacher, being a football (soccer for you americans) player, used to prefer a good kick in the butt

Was I traumatized? no

Am I angry at these teachers? not the tinest, for as far as I can recall I did really deserve it every time. Actually I'm still friends with that teacher with a good kick. He's a very old guy now.

Nah man... You suck.,,, and you know it, or you would not have expected to be attacked for your comments

It's just not acceptable for a grown man to be slapping pubescent girls... Especially a man in a position of power and trust..... And that is another crime all together... No way around it, it's a K#nt trick

Sure... I was slapped around as well as a kid... Mainly by one Mr Buzzard, a returned Vietnam veteran.... And no, I'm not traumatized by it either

And.... not all sexually abused Catholic boys are traumatized by it... But that doesn't make it OK.

IMHO.... You need to take yourself outside and give yourself a good shake... Then get a grip.

[lamecn]

How can we expect a peaceful society, when school children learn that it's OK to hit other people?

[GAZZPA]

When I was at school, if we did anything wrong we'd be made to come to front of the class and be belted across the backside with a tennis shoe or a cane.

I got smacked a few times before I learned to not talk, pass notes, or whatever it was I was doing :-)

I'm 100% in favour of corporal punishment. Although it was banned in most schools in the UK in 1987, and in 1999 at Private Schools (I left private school in 1985).

A good article about corporal punishment in the UK here - http://www.corpun.com/counuks.htm

This bit is particularly interesting

"In 2008 a new round of controversy over the issue was set off when a survey found that one teacher in five, and almost a quarter of all secondary school teachers, would still like to see corporal punishment reinstated. In 2011 another survey found that half of parents and 19% of students also wanted to bring back the cane.

And as recently as 2012 the co-founder and chairman of the governors of the most high-profile of the present government's brand-new so-called "Free Schools" said he would happily restore CP if it were allowed.

One consequence of the perceived collapse in school discipline has been a tendency for some (especially immigrant-descended) parents to send their teens abroad to complete their secondary studies, often to Africa or the Caribbean, where a stricter and more structured education, including CP where necessary, is still available. See e.g. this Nov 1997 news item about an under-achieving 13-year-old whose parents sent him to school in Ghana, with miraculous results, and this similar Nov 2007 report in which a British 17-year-old, sent away, also to Ghana, to study for his GCSEs, admitted he had been caned several times and agreed he was benefiting academically from the novel experience of strict discipline. See likewise Children sent to Caribbean for 'basic' schooling, a news report from July 1996, and UK Ugandans rush kids to Kampala schools, from May 1998."

So, according to your statistics over 80% of people do not want corporal punishment, bit of a landslide and a triumph for common sense. If you want to send your kids to Ghana for their education feel free, myself I would not want kids touched by anybody, anywhere, ever...

[GAZZPA]

When I was at school, if we did anything wrong we'd be made to come to front of the class and be belted across the backside with a tennis shoe or a cane.

I got smacked a few times before I learned to not talk, pass notes, or whatever it was I was doing :-)

I'm 100% in favour of corporal punishment. Although it was banned in most schools in the UK in 1987, and in 1999 at Private Schools (I left private school in 1985).

A good article about corporal punishment in the UK here - http://www.corpun.com/counuks.htm

This bit is particularly interesting

"In 2008 a new round of controversy over the issue was set off when a survey found that one teacher in five, and almost a quarter of all secondary school teachers, would still like to see corporal punishment reinstated. In 2011 another survey found that half of parents and 19% of students also wanted to bring back the cane.

And as recently as 2012 the co-founder and chairman of the governors of the most high-profile of the present government's brand-new so-called "Free Schools" said he would happily restore CP if it were allowed.

One consequence of the perceived collapse in school discipline has been a tendency for some (especially immigrant-descended) parents to send their teens abroad to complete their secondary studies, often to Africa or the Caribbean, where a stricter and more structured education, including CP where necessary, is still available. See e.g. this Nov 1997 news item about an under-achieving 13-year-old whose parents sent him to school in Ghana, with miraculous results, and this similar Nov 2007 report in which a British 17-year-old, sent away, also to Ghana, to study for his GCSEs, admitted he had been caned several times and agreed he was benefiting academically from the novel experience of strict discipline. See likewise Children sent to Caribbean for 'basic' schooling, a news report from July 1996, and UK Ugandans rush kids to Kampala schools, from May 1998."

So, according to your statistics over 80% of people do not want corporal punishment, bit of a landslide and a triumph for common sense. If you want to send your kids to Ghana for their education feel free, myself I would not want kids touched by anybody, anywhere, ever...

Just re read your statistics and it said 19% of students do not want corporal punishment but that half of parents,,, i don't believe that BS for a minute. I don't know of anyone that would want their kids caned in school, not one.

It's barbaric and teaches nothing at all.

[tomross46]

If one of those girls was my daughter..that teacher would pay in the biggest way!!!

How?

..use your imagination....eye for an eye 10 fold maybe

Very easy to be big.brave and threatening on TV !

I wonder how "brave" you would be when charged with assault ?

Sunnyjim5, This is Thailand, There are many young people that would take the contract. The cost depends on how much justice you want given. Same as any major city in the USA.

[NoshowJones]

Jonmarleesco

[Mot Dang]

BS !! Where are the good intentions in physically abusing a school pupil, a young girl. The coward should be kicked out. Anyone slap my daughter, and I would raise hell.

Kids misbehave in class, anywhere, but this abuse was about failing to do home-work. No bloody excuse. In a Western country he would be ordered to undergo anger management. But, in Thailand were would one go for this. Violence is very much a part of "Thainess" now, its acceptable.

[NoshowJones]

I never had any children but if I had, there would have been warnings to the headmaster never to use the belt on my kids,

I would certainly use violence on any male teacher who hit my kid.

Male teacher... so you would let a female teacher beat your child?

I would find it very hard to hit a female.

[NoshowJones]

I never had any children but if I had, there would have been warnings to the headmaster never to use the belt on my kids,

I would certainly use violence on any male teacher who hit my kid.

But not on a female one? But your not having had children doesn't best qualify you to comment, does it?

Unlike some people, I just hate violence against children.

[Rayk]

I can't believe that in today's day and age with all the violence being performed by children that people are still defending the fact that children should not be smacked for being bad.

Kids today need a good kick in the arse to keep them in line otherwise it's only going to get worse.

And I'm sure none of you were ever slapped around by your parents when you were a kid I guess because you were all so perfect.

[lensta]

I'm sure I'm going to be flamed to death for this, but I'm really sick with this "a slap is unacceptable, traumatizing violence" nonsense.

9th graders are no small kids. Look at these girls, some of them are taller than he is.

Have I been slapped by my teachers when I was a kid? yes, several times, although one of my primary school teacher, being a football (soccer for you americans) player, used to prefer a good kick in the butt

Was I traumatized? no

Am I angry at these teachers? not the tinest, for as far as I can recall I did really deserve it every time. Actually I'm still friends with that teacher with a good kick. He's a very old guy now.

A smack across the legs or ar se is acceptable but not across the head, and in my opinion if it is ok

for the teachers to hit the kids, its ok for the kids to retaliate, seeing as it is girls that he is hitting, one or all

should have given him a swift kick in the nuts.

[toloman]

A big man huh!

No a sadistic bully.

Slapping those girls around their heads is appalling.

Prosecute the swine.

I spent a lot of years in teaching in rural Texas school districts, including being the director of special services/discipline for a rural migrant school district with a seriously dangerous barrio named Villa Coronado which had its very own Hispanic gang. After a few years I left teaching in the USA and headed overseas. While in the USA If I came across a teacher who hit a student who was engaged in attacking the teacher physically the teacher would be completely exonerated. On the other hand, if a teacher struck a student as a means of disciplining a student for failure to do their homework he or she would be out on their butt.

In the three years I was there I faced down parents with guns, and students with knives and received numerous threats of bodily harm. I was in court 94 times during that three years. The superintendent nicknamed me mugroso harry (dirty harry). The only student I ever hit had just stabbed me in the upper right arm and I hit him hard to try to protect myself from being stabbed again. He was only nine years old at the time.He was expelled, 8 years later he murdered a convenience store clerk during the commission of a robbery. He was tried as an adult at 17 but received life in prison without parole. He is still in prison. If he had been 18 or older at the time of the murder he would have received the death penalty. Looking back on that incident with him I am glad I hit him. I went to the hospital and got several stitches In the case of this teacher (on Thaivisa forum) however he is way out of line and the principal is a wussy. Thai's protect their own. The teacher should be dismissed and I would seek to remove the principal as well.

[cgphuket]

I would like 10 minutes alone with the teacher and his director. Its ok, I have "good intentions".

[cgphuket]

BS !! Where are the good intentions in physically abusing a school pupil, a young girl. The coward should be kicked out. Anyone slap my daughter, and I would raise hell.

Kids misbehave in class, anywhere, but this abuse was about failing to do home-work. No bloody excuse. In a Western country he would be ordered to undergo anger management. But, in Thailand were would one go for this. Violence is very much a part of "Thainess" now, its acceptable.

If a teacher ever hits my child I will be waiting at his house when he gets home. He won't do it twice.

[GOLDBUGGY]

There is no justification for this teachers actions. All that I see him teaching his students is how not to control your temper and violence. He has no more rights hitting our kids then I do hitting his. The last person I want teaching my kids is a teacher like that.

Judging from all the kids who didn't finish there Homework it looks to me that he either assigned too much or didn't explain to them correctly how to do it. I don't much favor Homework to begin with. Who knows if these kids don't have a lot of chores after school or what lighting they have in there house after dark. Or even what time they have to get up to cook breakfast for everyone else first. He surely doesn't.

Base on his history, and if it was his first time, then having him removed for good might be too harsh. But some action should be taken and perhaps an anger management course is inline for this chap. On a second offence then he is gone.

No doubt many teachers should not be teachers at all. It was my experience some were just bullies, picking on kids who can't fight back. Maybe only because they were not a rich kid or liked to grow there hair longer. I had one in junior high school who was like that and made my life miserable and my grades dropped off. I hated school that year.

[khun custard]

Hopefully this exposes one of a very small minority of Thai teachers and the fact that it has been aired on Thai TV it will caution others with a similar disposition Err well... well all least to make sure all their students smart phones are turned off beforehand!

[kennypick]

i have seen regular incidents in the news where a parent has had to take there 5 year old or older to hospital because the teacher has beaten him till he or she was black and blue, and never heard any more about it in the media whether the teacher was punished for it or not. When i have mentioned it to Thai people they tell me Teachers can punish pupils by LAW and there is nothing you can do about it.

[Transporter]

If i were the girls parent i will slap the basxxxd teacher back

Yep and there's the problem right there. Trouble is teachers have a really hard time here getting the young people to listen and do as asked because the parents do not install any discipline whatsoever and then they get all involved when the teacher has to do their job for them as well as their own. I am not excusing the actions of this teacher and I would not be happy either but maybe the worst girls in this group getting the most slaps also have the worst parents?

[JAG]

Interesting that the Principal claims that the slapping was because these girls had failed to hand in their homework.

According to the "other newspapers website" on which I first saw this story the girls were being slapped because in the recent cold spell they had paraded for the daily flag raising /anthem singing ceremony wearing warm clothes which made them look "like hilltribe children", and had failed to sing with sufficient enthusiasm.

I rather suspect the latter reason was behind the slapping. Serial offenders at "not handing in homework" are at least as likely, if not more likely, to be boys, and he was only slapping girls. Secondly, if you are sufficiently unhinged to go around belting children like that, then you are probably bonkers enough to regard teenage girls dress sense and diffidence at singing as being a mortal insult to your sense of nationalist fervour.

The Principal may have thought that failure to do homework may have been a more acceptable excuse for this creatures behaviour, damage limitation perhaps?

Bye the bye, it is also an interesting comment on how elements within the educational establishment regard the "hilltribes". It does not come as a surprise to those of us living in an area where there are a lot of "hilltribe" people. I find the "hilltribe children", of whom we have quite a number where I teach, (an RC school in an area where a lot of Akha live), among the pleasanter and more conscientious students.

I suppose the only bright spot is that if he is 59, then he will be retiring soon.

Edited February 25, 2016 by JAG

[Transporter]

A 10 year old girl in South Africa ignored a Keep Off The Grass sign and ran all over it showing off to her friends outside a prison. One of the guards saw her and ran over to whip her repeatedly with his leather belt. He caused her severe cuts. She staggered home aided by her friends. When her father saw her he went crazy and shot 16 guards at the prison killing 11 of them. He was charged but got away with it as he claimed he was not fully in control of himself having seen the horrific injuries on his child. Maybe he should have taught his daughter to behave correctly in the first place and it could have all been avoided.

A warning to all teachers who may be thinking it is acceptable to hit someone else's child.

[ggt]

had good intentions when he slapped the ninth-graders

When the parents of the girls kick his butt into the next province...their intentions are just as honorable...helping him see the error in his ways...

Thai teachers have been exposed on many occasions for what would be considered cruel and unnecessary punishment of students...in civilized societies...

[sawadee1947]

If one of those girls was my daughter..that teacher would pay in the biggest way!!!

biggest way

and that is what? You want to slap him, kick him, kill him?

If so you are not better than him...!

[Transporter]

Interesting that the Principal claims that the slapping was because these girls had failed to hand in their homework.

According to the "other newspapers website" on which I first saw this story the girls were being slapped because in the recent cold spell they had paraded for the daily flag raising /anthem singing ceremony wearing warm clothes which made them look "like hilltribe children", and had failed to sing with sufficient enthusiasm.

I rather suspect the latter reason was behind the slapping. Serial offenders at "not handing in homework" are at least as likely, if not more likely, to be boys, and he was only slapping girls. Secondly, if you are sufficiently unhinged to go around belting children like that, then you are probably sufficiently bonkers to regard teenage girls dress sense and diffidence at singing as being a mortal insult to your sense of nationalist fervour.

The principal perhaps thought that failure to do homework may have been a more acceptable excuse for this w*nk*rs behaviour.

Bye the bye, it is also an interesting comment on how elements within the educational establishment regard the "hilltribes". It does not come as a surprise to those of us living in an area where there are a lot of "hilltribe" people. I find the "hilltribe children", of whom we have quite a number, being an RC school in an area where a lot of Akha live, amongst the pleasanter and more conscientious students.

I suppose the only bright spot is that if he is 59, then he will only be around for a few more months!

He probably also has 3 million baht of loans and has no idea how he is going to pay them off once he retires which could be adding to his anger.

[Transporter]

i have seen regular incidents in the news where a parent has had to take there 5 year old or older to hospital because the teacher has beaten him till he or she was black and blue, and never heard any more about it in the media whether the teacher was punished for it or not. When i have mentioned it to Thai people they tell me Teachers can punish pupils by LAW and there is nothing you can do about it.

My wife says it only happens in government schools and not the ones you pay fees for. It all makes sense now.