Teacher caught on video assaulting female student - but many see nothing wrong in that

[daveAustin]

He is obviously a good teacher if all are saying this. Let it go.

Oh aye, he comes across as a gem of a teacher. Would you want him tutoring your little princess?

[b17]

Sorry but i disagree with previous posters.

Being a teacher these days would challenge anyone to keep their cool;

Many children goad teachers just to see how far they can go.

Only point i agree on, is he should not have hit her head.

When i was a kid ( many many ) years ago, speak or step out of line and wallop you got it.

End of story, you learned to behave, never went home and told parents, or you got more for disrespecting your teacher.

The problem with this many teachers begin to enjoy it....I've seen it and to be honest,this is old school thinking.

discipline starts at home.....

Agreed but all to often discipline doesn't start at home as far too many parents totally abrogate parental responsibilities.

Remember the proposal to start classes on parenting including how to speak to your children !

[Artisi]

No teacher should ever strike a student anywhere no matter what.

It is always wrong.

As for the students "offence", I think they had a good point.

Should they not be allowed to wear trousers if they are in a class such as dancing?

If long trousers are banned on a Tuesday, then dance classes should not be held then.

It's not rocket science, or even high school science for that matter.

Co-ordinating trousers and dancing on the same day might just be too difficult for some

I'm sure if it becomes a national problem the govt will set up a committee(s).

With the usual dozens of useless meeting

At a 5 Star hotel !

Complete with dodgy invoices for the "costs" involved.

[Dukeleto]

If that was my daughter the teacher would need to leave the country...because I'm coming to get you and when I do I cannot ensure your safety! Needless to say I will be bashing his head with seriously accrued interest!!!

[paddyjoe41]

Agreed he should be banned from teaching,he is teaching children how to deal with other things his way,WRONG,also he should not touch a child in any way.The girl is protesting to stop the clip,Because she is afraid of more of what he just gave her.It is no secret that this is an everyday practice in Thailand,he has problems elsewhere so he takes it out on his students,put him back in the rice field with the buffalo.they can take more punishment than a young girl.Notice it was not a boy he asaulted,he may have had backup in that case,as usual.

[lostmebike]

He is obviously a good teacher if all are saying this. Let it go.

Wow!

You do know that one blow to the head could be fatal, don't you? And in some cases, if the first blow doesn't kill, 'second impact syndrome' can.

Rare but definitely possible.

[daveAustin]

Sorry but i disagree with previous posters.

Being a teacher these days would challenge anyone to keep their cool;

Many children goad teachers just to see how far they can go.

Only point i agree on, is he should not have hit her head.

When i was a kid ( many many ) years ago, speak or step out of line and wallop you got it.

End of story, you learned to behave, never went home and told parents, or you got more for disrespecting your teacher.

Aah, the ole when I were a lad...

Yes, heard all the stories about blackboard rubbers flying across the classroom, policemen giving kids a clip around the ear etc. Thankfully, that was the dark ages and it clearly affected a lot of kids into their twilight years. While I may agree that the whack was warranted for really unruly kids (fighting in class, telling teacher to F off etc), this is a whole other board game.

How is a female student wearing trousers 'goading' the teacher? She wasn't fighting, swearing, smoking, doing drugs, telling the teacher to F off, etc etc, was she? It is the most pathetically minuscule of minor things which, sadly, many anal Thai schools seem to take as a thing of massive importance. The teacher in question wasn't meting out appropriate punishment (what normal teachers do), he was overcome with anger and thug-like, pure and simple.

A 'good' 'teacher'? He could have the ability to turn all kids under his tutelage into mini-Einsteins for all I care. This has wrong written all over it and is clearly an angry male beating on a young female. If folk see it any other way they need to have a look at themselves.

[Crash999]

Sorry but i disagree with previous posters.

Being a teacher these days would challenge anyone to keep their cool;

Many children goad teachers just to see how far they can go.

Only point i agree on, is he should not have hit her head.

When i was a kid ( many many ) years ago, speak or step out of line and wallop you got it.

End of story, you learned to behave, never went home and told parents, or you got more for disrespecting your teacher.

Yeah I'm not sure where these people went to school who said this only happens in Thailand. I was smacked in school for misbehaving when I was young, though across the bum not on the head and also once by the headmaster using a ruler.

[gandalf12]

From everything that is being reported it demonstrates one thing and one thing only and that is that there are Thai's who are not fit to be in the same company as most people. For readers of this assault to think nothing of it is at best sickening. What kind of depraved people are living in this country? Thailand wants to project a good image to world and this sort of thing is going on? The image of Thailand is not a bad one, that would be a massive improvement, it is in the toilet.

If this teacher did anything like this to my daughter he would be eating through a tube for many years to come.

Sick people with a sick mentality who have yet to develop

[StatlerandWaldorf]

I have mixed feelings about this situation, while I agree that teachers should not use physical violence against children, many are raised (and I use the word raised very loosely) with little or no discipline from parents, that is if the parents are even around. This may cause the children to seek attention elsewhere and by other means.

I have rarely had cause to smack my kids and once they reach a certain age there are other ways to punish them for misbehavior such as withholding certain privileges. This is an approach which is used in my kid's school also, if they misbehave then they may have to miss out on at least part of an activity which is desirable to them.

I can see both sides of the argument here, people condemning these actions have likely raised their own children with discipline and values, and have not been exposed to children who have not been 'raised' under the same circumstances.

Having rambled on for a little too long, in this case I do not believe that a smack round the head was warranted for wearing long trousers, on the other hand the video is purely visual and there is no telling if the girl in question said anything to provoke the teacher to act in this way.

[Alive]

I'm sure this happens 2-3 times a day at every school especially in the rural areas. I won't blame the teachers alone. It's the culture. You cannot criticize the teachers alone without considering this society uses legal extreme punishment for those who show disrespect to civil servants and others. I know a foreigner whose girlfriend insulted a civil servant with an impolite remark in public and was jailed immediately. It was just one word that got her arrested. Her boyfriend got her out of jail that day but the both of them had make a public apology and pay a fine of 10,000 baht. Teachers are civil servants too. All I am saying is teachers punishing this way comes from the culture which is oppressive to those lower in rank. If you criticize this teacher, you have to disagree with the aspect of culture that creates this mentality of abuse of those below you being okay. Blaming the teacher alone is just hypocrisy.

[smedly]

North East Thailand, all to common to use violence as a way of getting your point across, teaching by example

This teacher should be charged with assualt and fired.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

In NO circumstances is it okay for a teacher to hit a student around the head area.

What area would you advise?

[MoversandShakers]

Incompetent teacher.
Completely wrong to give a child a blow on the head in ANY circumstance.
This teacher should immediately be removed.

[kingalfred]

The fact that the student and the parents had no problem with this act show that all your "western opinions " are irrelevant and out of touch

[tezzainthailand]

Takes me back nearly 50 years when my Catholic school phys ed teacher slapped me in the face for not putting effort into a square dancing lesson (I guess that's why these days I hate line dancing with a passion, bloody hillbillies). And that's where Thailand is today, roughly 40-50 years behind the civilised world (thinking of the Nordic countries, not so much America and Australia).

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

The Western Values Squad is out in full force. We can proudly say our students are better behaved.

[leither69]

How can discipline start at home when the parents don't care!! Or don't understand the concept. This being said. NO hitting kids

[fatferang73]

Would give him a left hook if that was my daughter.Other forms of punishment available.

[Kabula]

I really miss common sense!

The parents of the student should do the same to the teacher if acceptable!

[dcsw53]

Sickening in many ways.

Firstly shows he cannot control himself or manage situations, someone who vindictively chases a child to hit them should be thrown out of the teaching profession.

Secondly, why have people leapt to his defence ? He might have won the Nobel prize in the past, what he did here is indefensible.

Thirdly, the girl admits she did wrong and pleads for the clip to be taken down, "because of the trouble it causes". She is petrified of further revenge stunts from this low life and/or his colleagues. Suddenly she is bottom of the class in her marks, oh what a surprise.

Rant over, you get the gist.

[Saan]

No wonder elephants are treated so badly when being trained. The trainers learnt how to treat them when they were students at Thai schools.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Saan

[Emster23]

Sorry but i disagree with previous posters.

Being a teacher these days would challenge anyone to keep their cool;

Many children goad teachers just to see how far they can go.

Only point i agree on, is he should not have hit her head.

When i was a kid ( many many ) years ago, speak or step out of line and wallop you got it.

End of story, you learned to behave, never went home and told parents, or you got more for disrespecting your teacher.

People shouldn't be hitting each other, on any part of the body, for any reason. One of the reasons this country is so bloody violent is because hitting is still seen as a way to settle matters. After many many years of research(started even before you were born) people have finally discovered that violence doesn't solve anything.

One of the reasons you still believe that it works is because you were hit as a kid. Deep down inside the scars are still there

Yes, it would challenge anyone to keep their cool. Still not good enough reason. I taught emotionally disturbed students, from middle school up through high school. Too wild and provocative to be in regular classrooms. Behaviors chosen enough to piss off a saint. I never hit one, and I'm no saint. Why? Perhaps had to do with remembering I was there to teach them, not beat them. School should be an inviting place, not place where wonder "Gee, is the teacher going to beat me today?"

Beating teaches that violence is legit answer, and to avoid the places where get beaten. Proponents might say "beatings work. That's why we do them so much..."

Over pants on wrong day? <deleted>? I can think of dozens of ways to deal with this issue off top of my head without beatings. Violence is the tool of the ignorant, or stupid.

[metisdead]

Posts with off topic generalizations have been removed.

[Straight8]

Defending him saying he's a good person.

If it was my daughter I'd be giving him more than a bloody clip over the ear the scumbag.

The school should sack him immediately and assault chargers brought and make an example of him to deter this ongoing practice in Thailand .

Should, but TIT, this guy will probably get a pay rise, and the parents of the child will greet him with a wey for disciplining their child.

Amazing!!!

[hoopmonk]

It was never easy for me to witness this type of discipline in Thai schools. Unfortunately, this was a rather delicate slap across the back of the head with his bare hand. It's more common, from what I've witnessed (after 2548), for teachers to use a bamboo stick on the back of the hand or on the buttock and with some force depending on the child and/or the severity of the misconduct.

If the teacher's action towards the student is acceptable (in this culture) for the parents and faculty, why is the transparency so difficult for them to accept?

[wirat69]

Defending him saying he's a good person.

If it was my daughter I'd be giving him more than a bloody clip over the ear the scumbag.

What a metrosexual poofter... most of us remember that if you got a clip from the Teacher or the Policeman you got another hiding when your father got home... [irrespective of the cause of the initial discipline]

Violence begets violence and the response "I'd be giving him more than a bloody clip over the ear" is just sinking below the level of the Teacher.

[Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere]

Don't worry... The school will not fire the teacher. She would have gotten the same at home. This is Thailand where they still go up side the heads of their children. Not like in the West where discipline is dead and the children have no respect for their parents nor the law. Because your child can make a call and send you possibly to prison. No one listens to the west anymore because it is the new Sodom and Gomorrah where anything goes and accepted.

Edited June 23, 2016 by Whyamiandwhatamidoinghere

[IgboChief]

If that was my daughter the teacher would need to leave the country...because I'm coming to get you and when I do I cannot ensure your safety! Needless to say I will be bashing his head with seriously accrued interest!!!

It is not that easy: I actually was in a similar situation (posted above) and in reality there is no good solution to it. Yes, I was feeling like "handbag her" at the first second also -- but how does it solve the problem long term?

I could have gone to the principal, but what message would he have delivered? Changing the school is not an option either, because it is the best school here already (not a good school though). The truth is: Raising children above 8 years old in Thailand is a challenge (if not a mistake) as there are no good options.

The best approach I have found so far is to support and encourage my daughter as much as possible and stand against that behavior without making anyone loose too much face. Also bringing in the support of the other Western parents has helped -- Thai parents did not even see it as a problem, which is very sad.

Edited June 23, 2016 by IgboChief

[Alive]

Amazing how excited this gets people excited. The problem started with long pants. These girls should just conform.There is absolutely not place for those who don't in Thailand. No place. When they realize this their lives will be better. The teacher should be fired for insulting the nation. Shame on both the girls and teacher for harming the nation's image.