In article , Harold and Susan Vordos says...

The third incident was just an exchange of words, when I walked into my
sophomore year of electricity class. I was known for my big mouth
(gee---what a surprise) and walked into the class shouting something, likely
not worth hearing, which was usually the case. The teacher immediately
addressed me---politely but firmly informing me that my behavior was not
acceptable. From that day forward I respected him---and went on to have
him for a class all three years of high school, which, for us, began in 10th
grade, not 9th.

The verbal 'slap' then was just as effective as the physical one for
you then - that teacher did what the others did, but without having
to lay a finger on you. He could do it to *any* of the students in
the class at any time without having to run through the class doling
out blows.

Certainly you will say that the verbal rebuke meant somthing to you
because you respected him. This is true, but consider that by this
time if a student does *not* respect a teacher, will he do so after
being struck by them?

One thing is sure. My father instilled in me a concept of right and
wrong, which is now very strong.

And hence you were susceptible to the verbal disciplining that the
electronics shop teacher applied. There was probably no reason
for the others to resort to corporal punishment - they were simply
either 'having a bad day' or were otherwise unskilled at keeping
order. A good teacher can tell when a kid can be brought into line
with a talking to, or not. You could, those other teachers were
not skilled enough to realize it.

By the way, you sound like you're doing a great job with your daughter, Jim.

I'm honestly not sure if it's anything we're doing. I think she
just turned out that way by accident. But thank you.

One of the biggest worries I had about sending her to a catholic school
revolved around the punishment issues. Those fears were entirely
unfounded as corporal punishment has long been gone in NY state.
I'm not sure it really helped anyway, but what *did* make a difference
in a private school was the ability of the school to insist, in some
cases, that a particular student not come back there next year.

This happened a few times in the 8 years we were involved with that
place - there would be a notable behavior problem by one student or
another, and there would be multiple attempts by the staff and
parents to sort it out. After a couple of years though, the
administration would simply say 'look, no offense, but don't come
back next year.' Apparently the difference in classrom atmosphere
was remarkable. One single kid can bog down an entire class
and make learning so much harder for the other 29 kids, it is
really amazing. My daugher said the difference was like night and
day.

Also the number two string class cut-up often would take the
hint right after this happened....

Public schools cannot 'dis-invite' any students so the problem
kids stay in place.

Jim


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