It's easy to say the teacher should be able to handle a temper tantrum, but this kid was kicking and hitting other kids, so it wasn't a matter of telling the kid to sit in the corner.
And unfortunately, we're seeing more of these cases I think, and most teachers really aren't trained on how to physically restrain a child who is out of control.
Not saying that the kid should have been put into handcuffs, just noting that the school doesn't have a hell of a lot of options available when shit like this happens.
I honestly think a lot of this has to do with overall stress
Too many parents are totally stressed, and the pressure to raise your child 'properly' is beyond overwhelming. The amount of judgement out there is probably triple the amount there was when my kids were born 25 years ago.
And there are too many 'experts' telling you that if you don't do XY and Z, that your child will be a sociopath. It goes without saying that XY and Z change with the direction of the wind.
And if your child isn't successful, clearly it's totally YOUR fault.
Add to that economic pressures and the need for many parents to work.
Then add a total lack of time - mom and dad (assuming a two-parent household) are working FT, kid is in daycare. So when work ends, it's a frantic rush to daycare to get kid(s), then get back home to get dinner on the table, or rush to get kid to an activity so they can have more 'socialization' (if your kid doesn't have a lot of friends or social activities, they'll grow up to be a sociopath). That leaves almost no downtime for kids or parents.
And those are the parents who give a shit.
It's not a good thing at all, and many employers don't want to give unscheduled time off so that a parent can go meet at a school to discuss their kid's problems either, which adds more stress.
This is one of those It Takes a Village things
1) We need to have better working policies for ALL employees.
--Maternity AND Paternity leave after the birth or adoption of a child
--Mental Health/Sabbatical leave for non-parents - that way there's not resentment that Sally and John get 'extra' time off cause they had a kid (and OMG, yes it happens!)
--Flexible working hours wherever possible (again for all employees, not just ones with families)
--Sick leave that is separate from vacation leave and that can be carried over to the next year (too many employees who have it rolled into vacation refuse to take a sick day when they need to)
--Rational sick leave policies that don't penalize employees if they have to use sick time for themselves or a family member
2) 'Better' options for schools
--Eliminate standardized testing completely - do a screening test as a baseline at the beginning of the year, and one at the end to measure if a students needs are being met.
--Reduce class sizes dramatically so teachers can actually pay attention to students and work with them
--Mandatory parent/teacher conferences that discuss not only academic performance, but also social interaction and behavior in the classroom - make parents sign off that they have received the information
--Adequate funding for art, music, PE and 'life skill' classes (things like home ec and what we used to call woodshop). These classes should also have dedicated classrooms so that teachers aren't wheeling around supplies on little carts to each classroom.
--More time for lunch. The average school allows 30 minutes total. That's not enough time for a kid to get a lunch tray, find their seat, eat and put the leftover contents of the tray into the trash.
--Provide school supplies for ALL students in elementary school. There should be no reason for a 1st grader to buy their own paper and pencils. NONE.
--Keep schools well-maintained and renovate them or replace them when needed.
3) Provide health care
--Adequate pre-natal care to all expectant mothers, regardless of their ability to pay
--Allow mothers to stay in the hospital for up to 48 hours if they wish to.
--Adequate post-natal care, regardless of ability to pay
--Access to pediatric care, again regardless of ability to pay
--Access to care outside of business hours, so an expectant parent, or new parent doesn't have to request time off of work for a routine appointment
--Access to free birth control, so if you don't want to have another child you can prevent it
I don't think I'm the greatest parent at all, but I will say that I benefited from one major thing, which was money. Mr. Minx got a promotion when the kids were little that allowed me to work PT - the difference that made was huge IMO. My stress level lowered (before I was doing the frantic run of bed to daycare to work, back to daycare, grocery shop, dinner and oops! already time for bed), the kids had a LOT more downtime, and I was able to spend more time with them. Yes, we did mindless things like watch Pokemon everyday - wasn't like I was going to bake cookies and do fund crafting projects with them. At the same time, they had the freedom to be bored or do something they wanted to do at that moment. And I had time and room to 'process' information better. So if my daycare provider said kid #1 was being an asshole, I wasn't so stressed out that I put it on the back burner - I was able to sit and talk with him about why we should only be assholes at home
I worked for a pediatrician, and I lost track of the number of parents who wanted to get their kid tested, or wanted to push the school for an IEP or other intervention (or hold them to the one that existed). The common thread - none of them had the luxury of time. They were all mired in jobs that resented them taking off to bring their kid to the doctor, or go to school to try and work out the latest issue that came up. And they were all exhausted. It's hard to navigate the system when you have a small understanding of it, the privilege of looking well-off enough to afford a lawyer, and the privilege of having enough time to sit in endless meetings. When you don't have that, it's nearly impossible.
When they were in elementary school, my kids got the best teachers in the school. I think a large part of that was due to me volunteering my ass off there - I knew everyone in the school from the principal to the janitors, and I wasn't afraid to speak out. Not everyone has that advantage.
We've got to get control back - I truly see the major turning point in the Reagan years, where government stopped emphasizing that we needed to help the poor - if we made the rich even richer, it would all trickle-down to us. And his union-busting tactics gave a nice, clear message to business that they could do as they pleased with their employees.
And more than ever, our success is being measured by how much we own, and not what we do or stand for.
We say that we love families, but in truth, it's every man for themselves.
