# Teacher assaults student that uses a racial slur against him **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 7, 2018, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106 "2018-11-07T00:02:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/141 "2018-11-09T21:08:43Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Ok, I would have bought into a quick hard slap. Not condoning it, but not condemning that either. > > However the teacher beat the kid so badly the kid was taken to a hospital. So, the Teacher was wrong. You say that like “taken to hospital” implies some kind of injury or hospital treatment. No. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2018, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/142 "2018-11-09T23:48:53Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > However, throw a ball at someone, act very aggressively, and start lobbing racial slurs at someone and I feel that they have the right to defend themselves with reasonable force. The teacher at no point had his safety threatened. That basketball toss wouldn’t have injured a 90 year old lady. “Reasonable force”, in your opinion, means throwing the first punch and then aggressively chasing the kid down to keep inflicting violence? At more than twice the kid’s size? Self-defense was never a valid defense here. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/143 "2018-11-10T02:23:18Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > If you have never worked in a public school, dont criticize. No, I really _don’t_ have to have worked at a public school in order to know that a teacher who is not in immediate physical danger should not be beating the shit out of a student. I’m completely bewildered that some people think there’s any ambiguity about this. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/144 "2018-11-10T03:55:12Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > No, I really _don’t_ have to have worked at a public school in order to know that a teacher who is not in immediate physical danger should not be beating the shit out of a student. Yeah, this really does seem like it should be a pretty straightforward principle. And yet… ---
**Author:** ![UCBearcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/77aa72/32.png) [@UCBearcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UCBearcats)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/145 "2018-11-10T04:32:34Z")
The teacher should be caged for the rest of his life. He should lose all pension and future benefits. The go fund me should be used for diversity and anger management training. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/146 "2018-11-10T04:48:09Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > There are words you can say to a person that justify being hospitalized? Of course there are; don’t be obtuse. _Of course_ there are words that people can say to others that would justify putting that person in the hospital/jail/morgue. “I’m going to slit your throat with this knife”, for instance, when said by someone holding a knife, would justify a response that might send that person to the hospital, to jail or to the morgue, IMO. “I’m gonna walk over to you and beat you with my bare hands” might similarly justify putting that person in the hospital/jail/morgue, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/147 "2018-11-10T04:58:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Of course there are; don’t be obtuse. > > _Of course_ there are words that people can say to others that would justify putting that person in the hospital/jail/morgue. > > “I’m going to slit your throat with this knife”, for instance, when said by someone holding a knife, would justify a response that might send that person to the hospital, to jail or to the morgue, IMO. “I’m gonna walk over to you and beat you with my bare hands” might similarly justify putting that person in the hospital/jail/morgue, IMO. Nonsense. Those _words_ don’t justify it. It’s the fact that the person is holding a knife that might justify it, or the fact that the person is physically capable of beating you. Without that, the words are no justification for violence. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/148 "2018-11-10T05:37:32Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Nonsense. Those _words_ don’t justify it. It’s the fact that the person is holding a knife that might justify it, or the fact that the person is physically capable of beating you. Without that, the words are no justification for violence. I think that’s crazy and unsupportable. It’s the words that matter. Would you attack someone just for holding a knife? No, you’d attack them because they communicated that they were going use that knife to hurt you, with their words. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/149 "2018-11-10T12:47:44Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > :dubious: When someone throws a basketball at you, what do you consider reasonable physical force _after the throw has already happened?_ In a perfect world, you catch the ball and throw it back twice as hard, all in one fluid motion. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/150 "2018-11-10T13:42:41Z")
> [@UCBearcats](#): > > The teacher should be caged for the rest of his life. He should lose all pension and future benefits. The go fund me should be used for diversity and anger management training. I’d go with all of these except life in prision. A couple of years would be enough punishment. Plus the firing with a loss of all benifits, loss of teaching license, and being banned from ever being allowed to work with children again. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/151 "2018-11-10T14:36:26Z")
I cant believe all the people here going down hard on this teacher and demanding jail time and all. You dont know the pressure these assholes can put on a teacher, if you did, you would understand. This isnt some movie or tv show. You have NO IDEA how bad these little assholes can be. Heck a friend had a student start vaping right in his class the other day and acted like he had every damn right in the world to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/152 "2018-11-10T14:57:49Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I cant believe all the people here going down hard on this teacher and demanding jail time and all. You dont know the pressure these assholes can put on a teacher, if you did, you would understand. This isnt some movie or tv show. > > You have NO IDEA how bad these little assholes can be. Heck a friend had a student start vaping right in his class the other day and acted like he had every damn right in the world to do it. I’m quite capable of recognizing that teachers have a difficult job, and that disciplinary procedures are often inadequate. Are you suggesting that an appropriate response to these problems is for stressed teachers to hand out summary beatings to students? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/153 "2018-11-10T18:14:53Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > I cant believe all the people here going down hard on this teacher and demanding jail time and all. You dont know the pressure these assholes can put on a teacher, if you did, you would understand. This isnt some movie or tv show. I’m married to a teacher. The teacher was completely wrong to attack the kid. It isn’t hard. I’m no fan of jail though and I don’t think in this case it would do any good. There are plenty of other punishment options which show that this can’t be tolerated. > [@](#): > > You have NO IDEA how bad these little assholes can be. Heck a friend had a student start vaping right in his class the other day and acted like he had every damn right in the world to do it. how many punches do you think are allowable to deal with that situation? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/154 "2018-11-10T18:24:13Z")
Ubanredneck, does your special needs child act out sometimes at school? If so, would you be cool with the teacher snapping and punching him a couple of dozen times and then kicking him a few times once he hit the floor? Because if I had a kid and he was treated like that, the teacher had better pray for the safety of prison. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/155 "2018-11-11T00:57:01Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Ubanredneck, does your special needs child act out sometimes at school? If so, would you be cool with the teacher snapping and punching him a couple of dozen times and then kicking him a few times once he hit the floor? Because if I had a kid and he was treated like that, the teacher had better pray for the safety of prison. Clearly, you are cool with the idea of punishing someone by beating them up. No doubt contributed to your decision not to be a teacher. Good for you. I too think that people that hit people shouldn’t be teachers. I’d go further than that. I think that people who think it’s cool to beat people up shouldn’t be parents. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/156 "2018-11-11T01:36:48Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > No, I really _don’t_ have to have worked at a public school in order to know that a teacher who is not in immediate physical danger should not be beating the shit out of a student. > > I’m completely bewildered that some people think there’s any ambiguity about this. this is unmitigated bullshit. a few years ago, my co-worker brought her stepson to “Take Your Kids To Work Day.” he was 14, I was 37. He was 6" taller than me and outweighed me by 80 lbs of bulk (football player.) at 14 he could have easily broken me into pieces. so are you telling me that should someone like him attack me, I should refrain from defending myself because he’s “just a child?” Sorry, but teenagers know they can hide behind their legal protections as “children” even when they can overpower many adults. Fuck. That. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/157 "2018-11-11T03:00:00Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I’m quite capable of recognizing that teachers have a difficult job, and that disciplinary procedures are often inadequate. Are you suggesting that an appropriate response to these problems is for stressed teachers to hand out summary beatings to students? It was appropriate. You should check out the video of the woman teacher being punched in the face and not responding in Baltimore. That non response is what I consider inappropriate. We got people on this board that advocate violence for mere words. That I disagree with. Words with threatening actions? Yeah, that deserves a response. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/158 "2018-11-11T03:06:34Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > this is unmitigated bullshit. a few years ago, my co-worker brought her stepson to “Take Your Kids To Work Day.” he was 14, I was 37. He was 6" taller than me and outweighed me by 80 lbs of bulk (football player.) at 14 he could have easily broken me into pieces. > > so are you telling me that should someone like him attack me, I should refrain from defending myself because he’s “just a child?” Sorry, but teenagers know they can hide behind their legal protections as “children” even when they can overpower many adults. Fuck. That. There weren’t very many words in the comment of mine that you quoted, but you seem to have largely ignored them in setting up your straw man. I _did_ say: “…a teacher **who is not in immediate physical danger** should not be beating the shit out of a student…” And I _did not_ say “just a child”, so who were you quoting there? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/159 "2018-11-11T16:29:58Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > It was appropriate. You should check out the video of the woman teacher being punched in the face and not responding in Baltimore. That non response is what I consider inappropriate. What happened to the student? A three-day suspension aka staycation? ---
**Author:** ![contradancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@contradancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/contradancer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106/160 "2018-11-11T17:45:43Z")
When we lived in Pensacola, FL it was routine for teaches to whoop ass on students who misbehaved in class. One of my sons did something, not that bad, and they took him in a room and beat the shit out of him with a stick. His father, a Naval officer went to the school and ripped them a new asshole. During this time, it was still common for parents to be allowed to punish their children without any fear of criminal charges. It was considered their right. Now it has gone too far in that regard. Children are calling 911 on their parents or falsely charging their fathers with child abuse. so, this generation thinks we have had a hands off rule when it was normally the other way around. If I sit down and give it some thought, abusing black people has been a sport in this country for a long time. I don’t know how they have stood it. I couldn’t. And now that we have a despicable POTUS in charge, who condones this, children are saying things they would never have said in the past. I guess he just lost it and in my heart of hearts I think the kid deserved it after insulting and throwing a ball at an elderly black man, when he was the one disobeying school rules. I’m glad he hit him. If that makes me a bad person, so be it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teacher-assaults-student-that-uses-a-racial-slur-against-him/824106.md?page=9)