Yes it will change.
It will get a whole lot worse.
And that is what I was talking about. Teachers should be able to do more in these situations than “simple verbal remonstration” and physical contact. I don’t pretend to know the solution but then again I’m not someone who decides on teachers’ training, schools’ personnel and policies, etc. either. People in those roles should give more thought to make teachers (and schools) more prepared to solve situations like this without resorting to violence or calling the cops on a six-year-old, seriously, what the hell.
“Calling someone in from the outside” shouldn’t be a cop proceeding to arrest the kid, not when the kid in question is a 6-year-old. It’s not like there can’t be other options, the problem is that those options are either not available for the person in charge (due to lack of training or funding or any other reason) or the person in charge has misguided ideas about how to handle the situation. So how about investigating the actual problem in cases like this (because it’s not the child - children will be children whether we like it or not), and how it can be avoided. I’m not saying it’s always necessarily the teachers’ responsibility, but it’s sure as hell should be someone’s responsibility.
I agree, but what? My own suggestion above – sending in clowns – was only partly in jest; a really good way of dealing with an out-of-control child (or one that has worked for me) is some form of wild distraction: in many cases, once the child is sufficiently distracted, they forget that they were acting out. However, in the absence of a ready supply of clowns, and in the presence of the rest of the class, this can be hard to do.
That said, in this Florida case the counselor apparently had already found a way to separate the child from the rest of the class, and that should have been the hardest part of the process. I would have thought that at that point the child could just sit in the office until a parent shows up. The school claims they did not ask for the arrest to be made; then who called the cop?
“Calling someone in from the outside” shouldn’t be a cop proceeding to arrest the kid
No, of course not; not only the arrest, which was beyond the pale, but even using the cops. However, this is a small charter school which likely exists mainly as a way to suck public money into the pockets of some foundation, and which would probably not contemplate spending the money to have someone on premises who has appropriate training. (And, if they did, that would make them responsible for any outcome, including potential lawsuits.)
I just don’t think we can assume that teachers – even well-trained teachers – will always have a straightforward way to deal with unruly kids. “Shoulda done better” is easy to say, but in today’s school environment teachers have quite a lot on their plate, and are generally doing the best that a normal human being can do, and being paid breadcrumbs for it.
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