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Teacher Allegedly Ties 5-Year-Old to Chair in Front of Class
Filed under: In The News
A teacher in Australia is facing charges for tying a student to a chair in front of his classmates. Credit: Getty Images
Tying children to chairs. It always seems like such a good idea at the time.
Before you succumb to temptation, however, consider the story coming out of Australia about a 5-year-old boy who, you might say, was "bound" to get his teacher in trouble.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports a teacher 60 miles northeast of Perth (on the west coast of Australia) faces criminal charges for tying a student to a chair in front of his classmates on April 19.
The teacher reportedly has been suspended with pay pending an investigation.
Sharyn O'Neill, director-general of Perth's Department Education and Training, tells the Herald the allegation is serious and will be treated "as a matter of urgency."
"There's no excuse to tie children to a chair, there is no occasion in which that is an OK way to deal with a behavioral issue," she tells the newspaper. "The teacher involved in this allegation, I understand, isn't a new teacher and has some years of experience.
"Regardless of experience ... it is simply not acceptable to tie a student to a chair," she adds. "Good common sense tells us you don't tie children to a chair."
The Herald reports the incident was reported by an assistant teacher. O'Neill tells the newspaper the child had been "difficult" on the day he was tied up.
"My understanding is the child had been not attending to their work, not getting down to what they had been asked to do and in some frustration the teacher has allegedly tied the child to the chair," she says.
The child was not injured, she adds.
O'Neill denies teachers lack training to handle misbehaving students.
"We have 25,000 teachers who look after students day in and day out and for the most part they do that with expertise and professionalism," she tells the Herald. "We've got this situation, we've had one previously and I think both situations are unacceptable, we don't condone it and we're moving swiftly to make sure that they're both dealt with."
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 6)
4-27-2011 @ 12:42AM
sdshell140 said...Well said Julie! I'd also like to point out that the Asian Countries that are kicking our A**es academically would then punish their child for not following their teachers directions the first time. Education starts in the home! If you don't teach your child to obey, then how can a teacher teach them anything!
4-26-2011 @ 10:13PM
Ed Self said...Oh BooHooHoo! I ran out of the classroom, along with about 1/2 of the rest of the class to chase down a "Sound Truck" back in the '30s when I was a kid. When we all went back the teacher let the "good" kids tie the rest of us to our chairs. I don't remember that my psyche was so scarred that I became a homeless, helpless bum. Rather I became a college graduate & successful Engineer.
P.S. I remember getting switched a few time when I'm sure that I deserved it too.
4-26-2011 @ 3:55PM
Pat said...This type of punishment from a teacher is nothing new. We had a teacher in a local gradeschool about 30 years ago who did the same thing! When asked what would she have done if there had been a fire drill, her reply was, and I quote, "he could walk with the chair tied to him." This was a practice this teacher did often and got away with it until I heard of it and I got the school board involved. We as parents would like to believe that our children are in good hands while at school. Children who become out of control should be sent to the principal's office so parents can be notified.
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4-26-2011 @ 5:35PM
Sue said...here's your answer Pat.. the teacher should have taken him to the principles office and the parents should have picked him up and disiplined him.. but on the other hand. i bet the parents wouldn't have done anything to him either...
4-27-2011 @ 12:53PM
SteveLC said...I worked in schools also, sending a child (s) to the principal is sometime frutless. And the majority of the parents will not come to the school, unless the child is about to be kick out. Then the parent want to blame the school for their child behavior. As one commenter said private and parochical schools do not tolerate unruly children. I got my butt spanked in school many times and if they told my mother, I got punish or another butt whipping. Teachers cannot teach with children that are distracting other children. Now, teachers cannot look wrongly, say something wrongly or touch the unruly child. OH! I turned out ok.
4-26-2011 @ 7:27PM
Jack said...Although I disagree with tying the boy to a chair, I find it amusing that parents have no clue about their children's behavior in school. I taught middle, junior, and high school for seven years before entering the field of engineering. I taught some of the finest young people with the most horrid parents and some of the worst young people with the finest parents. I recall escorting many of the worst to the principal's, assistant principal's, and counselor's office's expecting their experience, in such behavioral matters, would provide to the students a path to civilized behavior in the class-room. Unfortunately, the students returned to class with the same behavior that brought them to the "so-called" professionals" who were employed to deal with the basic concepts of civility.
My point, I was hired to teach, not to be a disciplinarian, not to raise another's child to relieve the parent's responsibility for doing-so!!
There has been an increasing populace of young people that do not belong in an academic environment. Some of the populace would be quite successful by attending vocational, trade schools, or an educational environment that would test the students desires. Indeed, there are some who will populate and deserve to be incarcerated in our prison systems!
As for the boy, in this article, he will overcome the embarrassment, assuming he was not on any of the drugs advocated by the pharmaceutical industry for suppressing "a young boy dealing with growing pains"!!!
4-26-2011 @ 12:37PM
Julie said...As a former school teacher who left because I became fed up with the lack of support given to teachers -- combined with the expectation of conducting meaningful and entertaining lessons while simultaneously faced with disruptive students (who really do need the individual attention) -- I feel the school should be more concerned about the procedures they have in place for dealing with disruptive students than with making examples of exasperated teachers. I never met a teacher who chose his or her profession because they enjoy punishing kids. The ones I knew, including myself, chose to be a teacher because they believed they could help make a positive difference in the lives of others. I am not condoning what this teacher did, but I am persuaded that he or she was at wit's end with a disruptive student combined with a non-supportive administration. The current mentality: Let's put teachers in as stressful a situation as possible; the ones who snap are the ones we can let go. What a world.
Reply
4-26-2011 @ 1:18PM
R said...Amen, Julie
4-26-2011 @ 4:39PM
deb said...Amen Julie.
4-26-2011 @ 12:36PM
Wendy said...In first grade my teacher, Mrs. Parks, tied the ice cream man's daughter to a chair and duct taped her mouth shut. Back then you could get away with that stuff. I don't think Terry really deserved it, Mz Parks just hated kids but I'm sure there are plenty of kids who do need to simmer down. It didn't kill her and I'm sure after that she didn't talk too much or bounce all over the place anymore.
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4-26-2011 @ 12:45PM
caddy girl said...Any idiot can be a school teacher today, and morons graduate from Harvard. Teaching used to be a nobel profession, it is now just a job and a what's in it for" me". Tying a kid to a chair in frustration shows just how ill equipped this freakadoodle is for the position of teaching. How about a trip to the principal's office, how about a parent teacher conference? What would her next step be adding a gag to the mix?
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4-26-2011 @ 12:50PM
Louis said...nobel?? lol Don't hold a grudge against teachers just because you couldn't learn how to spell!
4-27-2011 @ 9:16PM
steph said...Teaching is still a noble profession. That doesn't mean every teacher is a professional. In this case the teacher's actions are inappropriate. Period. I know how frustrating it is when a student is combative and there is no support (can't send the student to the principal, can't assign detention, and can't call home) but tying a child to the chair is inexcusable. I have 36 kids in one class - and I get frustrated with verbally abusive students who have zero consequences, but I am also the adult in the room. In this case, there were two adults in the room. What a luxury to have two professionals. At least one of them acted like it.
4-26-2011 @ 12:46PM
Louis said...How about tying the parents to a chair before they have any more kids? No? OK, just a suggestion.
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4-26-2011 @ 12:56PM
No way! said...As a teacher, at what point are you feeling so threatened by a child,not doing what he is told, that you feel the need to get physical and in that kids face to tie him up? He is 5! His first year in school. I would like to know, who out in the world knows a 5year old that has total self control? I mean the teacher doesn't even have self control!
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4-26-2011 @ 5:28PM
Tammy said...Exactly!!!! He is 5!
4-26-2011 @ 12:55PM
Jerry said...Julie...Thank God you are no longer teaching as you sound like a real nut case.
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4-26-2011 @ 1:09PM
Makwa said...He undoubtedly would have started the fire.
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4-26-2011 @ 1:07PM
MotorCityMama said...Let's face it, no one respects or cares about teachers. Strapping a child to the chair shows a lack of support from administration. As a teacher in inner-city Detroit, by the time I get the class seated and quiet, by the time I have passed out supplies (lord knows the parents can afford them but spend their money on cigarettes instead), by the time I've taken attendance for a 47 students class, had 15 announcements during instructional time, broke up a fight, threw out the snack food that draws roaches, stopped a conversation about abortions, listened to a child tell about how hungry, cold and beaten he was, opened my 10th lay-off letter, been screamed at by the principal about some erroneous event, and just realized I spent $7000 of my own money on my students in the last year, I've about had enough. Getting down to ANY learning is a plus.
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4-26-2011 @ 3:41PM
boswlord said...Wow- you sound very burned out and dismayed by teaching. Maybe you need to look at getting into another profession as the kids are probably picking up on your negativity and feeling fed-up with the school system- you are doing a disjustice to the students by staying on!