primary school students were gagged by their teachers when they were talking. where is the boundary of educational punishment? | beijing news column
2024-09-21
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▲data map: a primary school in a certain place is in class. photo/xinhua news agency
according to the new yellow river report, on september 18, a parent of a student in nanning, guangxi, broke the news to reporters, saying that a student in a first-grade class of nanning xingwang primary school had his mouth sealed with tape by a teacher named yang because he talked in class.
on the 19th, the teacher involved confirmed the incident and said that he had apologized to the students and parents afterwards and that he had been dismissed by the school. the staff of the teaching department of xingwang primary school said that after the incident, the school had organized a psychological teacher to provide psychological counseling for the students involved, and the teacher involved had been expelled from the school.
although the school involved has expelled the teacher, the incident has also sparked a lot of discussion in the public opinion field. in particular, there has been a lot of discussion about the boundaries of teachers' disciplinary power and under what circumstances teachers' behavior is considered an insult to students.
is it considered a “problem” if first graders talk in class?
in august this year, the cpc central committee and the state council issued the "opinions on carrying forward the spirit of educators and strengthening the construction of a high-quality and professional teacher team in the new era", which proposed to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of teachers, safeguard teachers' right to educate and punish, and support teachers' active discipline.
however, it should be noted that educational punishment is not corporal punishment or disguised corporal punishment. there are two basic premises for maintaining teachers' educational punishment rights in the above opinions.
first, the student management regulations formulated by the school must be legal and compliant; second, the educational punishment of students who violate the rules and disciplines must strictly follow the "rules for educational punishment in primary and secondary schools (trial)" and adopt educational punishment measures that can achieve the purpose of educational punishment without harming the personality and dignity of students. in this case, there are obviously problems in both aspects.
in this case, some people think that although the teacher's behavior of sealing the student's mouth with tape was wrong, his starting point was to teach the child to abide by discipline. and a first-grade child talking during class is also considered a bad behavior that violates classroom discipline. such a perception is obviously inappropriate.
for first-grade students who have just started school, teachers should carry out adaptive education based on the physical and mental characteristics of the children, and should not regard children talking in class as a "problem". judging from the reaction of public opinion to this matter, many people also believe that the teacher's teaching method is wrong, and they do not realize that first-grade children talking in class is not actually a bad behavior.
in 2021, the ministry of education issued the "guiding opinions on vigorously promoting the scientific connection between kindergartens and primary schools", which clearly requires that primary schools set the first semester of the first grade as a school adaptation period, focusing on implementing school adaptation education; reforming the first-grade education and teaching methods, and the national curriculum is mainly implemented in a gamification, life-oriented, and integrated manner to strengthen children's exploratory and experiential learning; we must effectively change the phenomenon of ignoring children's physical and mental characteristics and receptive abilities, and resolutely correct the wrong practices of over-teaching and blindly catching up with progress.
if the schools and teachers involved strictly implement the requirements of the ministry of education and mainly adopt gamification and activity-based teaching methods for first-grade primary school students, rather than requiring students to sit in their seats "obediently" and listen to the teacher's lectures and learn knowledge, then first-grade children talking in class will not be a "problem."
in recent years, school management regulations formulated by some schools in my country have been questioned by public opinion, and have been accused of disrespecting the laws of education and the physical and mental characteristics of students.
for example, not long ago, a school punished students for going to the toilet after lights out at night, based on the school's "school rules" that prohibit going to the toilet after lights out. this rule is not legal in the first place, and judging whether students' behavior violates discipline and regulations based on such a rule also loses the most basic legitimacy and rationality.
this requires schools to adhere to the principle of educating people and formulate school management regulations that comply with higher laws and educational laws. this is also the basis for maintaining teachers' right to educational punishment. if the regulations themselves have problems, even if the teacher's educational punishment measures are fine, the overall educational punishment is illegal.
there are clear boundaries on how to punish
it is worth noting that in real-life teaching, there are actually regulations on how to control the boundaries of punishing students. for example, the "rules on educational punishment in primary and secondary schools (trial)" (hereinafter referred to as the "rules") previously issued by the ministry of education not only lists the specific circumstances in which educational punishment can be implemented, under what circumstances teachers can implement educational punishment, under what circumstances schools can carry out educational punishment, but also specifically stipulates some educational punishment processes.
at the same time, the "rules" also clearly state which disciplinary actions are not allowed. for example, "corporal punishment that directly causes physical pain by hitting, stabbing, etc.; corporal punishment that indirectly harms the body or mind by making students stand for a long time, copying repeatedly, forcing them to do uncomfortable movements or postures, and deliberately isolating them; verbal abuse or violating students' personal dignity with discriminatory and insulting words and deeds..." these actions are not allowed.
in this case, the teacher sealed the child's mouth with tape, which is a very dangerous behavior. this practice will not only cause physical pain to the child, but may also hurt the child psychologically. it is unacceptable and has obviously deviated from the scope of normal educational punishment. in more serious cases, it may even be suspected of corporal punishment of the child in disguise.
it should be clear that the purpose of the ministry of education to formulate and promulgate the "rules" is to clarify the boundaries between educational punishment and corporal punishment and disguised corporal punishment. however, in reality, there are still some teachers who adopt disciplinary measures that are clearly not allowed by relevant laws and regulations when conducting educational punishment on students. and their excuse is nothing more than "the starting point is for the good of the children."
positive discipline is not corporal punishment or corporal punishment in disguise. this must be reiterated. teachers have legal and compliant educational punishment measures to discipline students. we must clearly say "no" to teachers' corporal punishment or corporal punishment in disguise. this does not deny educational punishment, but requires teachers to carry out educational punishment in accordance with laws and regulations.
to this end, we must promote the rule of law in education and enhance the legal awareness of teachers and students. when formulating school rules, relevant parties must conduct a legal review and fully listen to the opinions of teachers, students (parents).
when teachers encounter controversy when implementing educational punishment, or when parents complain or report, an independent investigation team should be set up to investigate the teacher's disciplinary behavior and determine whether the behavior is normal educational punishment or illegal corporal punishment or disguised corporal punishment in accordance with laws and regulations. of course, we should also firmly support teachers' educational punishment behavior in fulfilling their educational responsibilities.
written by jiang li (media person)
editor/ ma xiaolong
proofreading/ zhang yanjun
