Some Teachers Deserve a Beating!

2006/3/25 12:25:56

Regardless of the target, violence is of course not good. But violence from students toward teachers does not deserve special condemnation merely because it is students against teachers. Aside from legal grounds, any other justification is laughable and absurd. Meanwhile, violence from teachers toward students has historically never been a subject of particular concern -- such violence has persisted all along. From a fair standpoint, students could just as well say: you've been beating us for thousands of years; what's the big deal if we fight back a little?

If one argues from the perspective of "the dignity of the teaching profession" that students must not hit teachers, then this argument is even more groundless today. I ask you: is there anything left of the teaching profession that deserves dignity? Today's so-called teachers are increasingly converging with crooked merchants. Education has become an industry. Since it's an industry, students are consumers. And the consumer is God. When God hits someone, they get hit for free.

I believe nobody wants to be violent toward anyone without reason. Being subjected to violence always has its reasons. And the reasons for student violence against teachers often lie within the reasons for teacher violence against students. I ask you: how many teachers today still treat students as students? When students watch teachers rake in piles of cash from parents, everyone has the urge to give them a good thrashing.

As for students' violence against teachers during the Cultural Revolution, there's even less worth discussing. All sorts of people were subjected to violence back then. There's plenty to condemn all around -- there's nothing that deserves to be singled out. When violence becomes the primary bond connecting students and teachers, we can only say that the system maintaining the educational infrastructure has a serious problem. Whether to replace it or keep patching it -- well, figure it out.