Are teachers being pushed to the edge? That is what the O’Reilly Factor asked tonight. Bill O’Reilly has been following what appears to be a growth in teacher-student violence. Bill O’Reilly showed shocking video – this particular one he has yet to share – of a male teacher in St. Louis slamming a chair down and pushing a 16-year-old girl. That teacher, 36-year-old Peter Sheppard, has been charged with a misdemeanor. No word on whether the student has been charged.
But is that really the heart of the issue? I often find that O’Reilly takes the easy way out. Watch the videos below, and afterwards, we will explore some other explanations. Believe that this is just the beginning with this site publishing these stories.
This footage taken at Alliance Academy in Oakland in April of 2013, shows an apparent disruptive student who was asked by her substitute teacher to leave the class. The event spiraled out of control beyond the doors, which makes it difficult to ascertain what exactly started the violence, but there is little doubt that the result was inappropriate school activity and unfortunate to say the least.
Consequently, the OUSD – the Oakland school board – had recently voted to close down the AIM charter schools in the district. AIM had enormous success with troubled children in these very neighborhoods. The OUSD has disciplined neither student nor teacher.
http://youtu.be/1khnwWvPuXM
Again in April of 2013, a wild fight erupted between a California freshman student and her teacher at Stockton’s Cesar Chavez High School, which has left the student facing an assault charge and the teacher facing an investigation of her actions. The fight broke out when Marlina Martinez, 15, began applying makeup at the end of her math class.
Because of apparent disruptive behavior, although we are not sure of the whole story, the teacher confiscated the student’s makeup. The student then used her cell phone to call her mother to have her tell the teacher to return her makeup. A fight ensued.
This is one of the less graphic, but much more despicable. Here a student waits for a female teacher who is 61 years old to come out of the classroom after the period bell rings. Shortly after the teacher exits the classroom she is snuck by a punch in the face, and promptly drops to the floor.
This is a video showing a teacher in Dallas standing idle as two students engage in a violent altercation. In May of 2011 it was causing an uproar after the teacher’s union said the educator did the right thing. Wendy Murphy, a former prosecutor and victims’ rights advocate, explains on the O’Reilly factor.
Naturally, against the union that has zero interest in actual education, those who attempted to raise awareness to classroom violence slowly faded into the background.
http://youtu.be/0vk-2zCg6jE
Although this event does not result in an actual physical altercation, who could forget this one making its rounds on primetime cable news? The video is a perfect example of how sometimes it can become obfuscated trying to tell who is behaving like a teacher and who is behaving like a student.
Bottom Line
We could send an infinite amount of dollars to the school districts in any one of the number of videos above, but it still would not change the dynamic that has been allowed to grow like a cancer in our public schools. Money cannot by good parenting, respect for elders, natural teaching skills, or other cultural factors that must come out of the cage of political correctness in order to effectively address them.
The future of any nation’s political prosperity in contingent upon the mental health and well-being of their youth, and as of now, our future hope of any political prosperity in bleak indeed.
