Gym Teacher Beats Up Student
Posted by Brett Singer at 12:00 PM on June 22, 2009
One of my many obnoxious moments from high school (and there were many, believe me) was when I shouted the following at a gym teacher from the door of the gymnasium:
“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. And those who can’t teach — teach gym!”
Why did I do this? Because the gym teacher had told my friends and I that we couldn’t cut through the gym in order to get to the canteen. I was 15, so cut me some slack.
Why am I telling you this? Because I think that in this particular case, I may have been on to something. (I stole that line from Woody Allen, by the way.)
A substitute gym teacher in New Rochelle, NY “got into a fight with an 11-year-old Westchester student over a dodgeball game, called him a ‘crybaby,’ and put him in a chokehold, New Rochelle police said.”
WOW. That’s about as messed up as it gets. (OK, I could think of worse things, I suppose. But still.)
When my son tells me about the stuff he does in gym class, I am quick to inform him that none of it could possibly be as bad as some of the things I had to do. For example: a game called “chicken”, wherein we were divided into two groups. The bleachers were folded up. Each group had to do whatever they could — anything they could — to keep the other group from reaching the other side. There was much wailng, gnashing of teeth and giving of wedgies. That same gym teacher used to refer to an Indian boy as “Mahatma” (as in Gandhi) and probably did other things that I’ve blocked out.
But as far as I can recall, no gym teacher ever put a student in a chokehold. Even in the bad old days of the 70’s and 80’s, choking students was frowned upon.
The teacher denies all of this, telling the New York Post that he was “attacked by a third-grader.” The student “has marks on his right arm from where the teacher grabbed him” but the teacher “contends the kid threw a punch” and he was only defending himself.
The incident occurred in front of witnesses, so hopefully the truth will be sorted out. If the teacher did what he’s accused of, he shouldn’t ever be allowed to teach again.
Source: NY Post
Image: Amazon
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