Threats against teachers - Time for a dose of tough love

Even in a world where violence seems more and more routine, even in a world where the most disrespectful and threatening behaviour is occasionally tolerated as the lesser of two evils the threat of violence faced by a teacher and reported at yesterday’s TUI conference in Wexford is utterly unacceptable.

Dublin branch member Audrey Cepada told the meeting that a student who threatened a pregnant teacher that he would “kick the baby out of her” was not suspended until three weeks after the event.

The idea that it took three weeks to act is as dangerous as it is intolerable. The idea that the child, no matter how troubled, was suspended rather than expelled suggests a level of tolerance that is at best misplaced. It also raises questions that can only be answered outside the school environment.

Occasionally it is necessary to repeat the fundamentals of our world; education is a privilege millions are denied; teachers deserve respect and support especially as they may not always be properly rewarded and a society can only function if its institutions are safe places to work.

Such a threat to a teacher is a symptom of a far bigger, more complex problem. Even so, all too often a violent child’s parents, or parent, are not challenged about it. They very rarely face real consequences. Maybe it’s time to review that not-our-problem evasion. It’s the least our teachers deserve.