a slap in the face

my mom told me about a situation going on in my ole alma mater. apparently a teacher is accused of asking a student to slap another student. he allegedly did three times. the kid who got slapped told his mother, whi in turn told police, the media and filed charges. the student who did the slapping is alleged to be the super's son. there's an investigation going on. the teacher has been placed on admin. leave with pay until the end of the school year.

as i was told all of this, i recalled a similar circumstance when i was in the sixth grade. i was in ms. g.'s class (which i hated, the woman scared me). i think one of my classmates hit or slapped another. it was a boy who slapped a girl. i don't recall the circumstances, though. but i do remember who they are.

well, ms. g. got really pissed off, grabbed both of them. both were crying, one from hurt and other from embarrassment. in front of the class, ms g. tells the girl who'd been slapped to slap the boy back. clearly the girl was frightened. she didn't want to. ms. g. urged her to do it. i can still see her beady little eyes behind her glasses looking on malevolently, her teeth clenched. she kept on until the girl gave the boy a feeble slap across the face. it was an hard to watch. i'd supressed it all of this time until i heard about it yesterday. crazy times then and crazy times now.

i don't know the circumstances of the situation going on now, so i can't really comment onit, although a teacher shouldn't ask another student to slap another and have that student oblige. if that' indeed true, the teacher should be punished and the student suspended for following through.

with the incident back in sixth grade, well, i think ms. g. was out of line. she should have sent the boy to the office and gotten his just punishment that way. who's she to allof a suddent adopt the biblical an eye for an eye motto. though she always was a bit off kilter.