No, that’s not a typo. This, however, is madness; some teacher has won a grand of compensation after being slagged off on Friends Reunited. Okay, so maybe the pupil was a complete tosser and told a few porkies, but in general there are teachers who are complete bastards who deserve to be outed.
Fifteen years ago it was safe for Mrs Craig (the french teacher at Torpoint Comprehensive) to punch me on either side of the head because I was day dreaming during her class. Safe because she scared the shit out of me and I reckoned I’d get into more trouble if I told my mum what the nasty cow had done. If this happened now, I’d sure as hell be posting it on the internet, letting people know that this woman had struck me. And I’d love every last second of it – I’d cherish the moments as the press called the school, the BBC got wind of it and the bitch suddenly went on “sick leave.”
But I couldn’t do that fifteen years ago. Which meant there was no justice, even if it would have been of the kangaroo court variety. Mrs Craig got away with it – she might have gotten away with hitting other kids too… all because she could. I spent the next year or so at that school feeling sick in the pit of my stomach every time I had to attend her class or walk past her in the corridor.
So to have the whistle blown on teachers like, or worse than Mrs Craig seems perfectly reasonable to me.
As long as you’re being honest you should have twenty other kids who were in the class who can back you up if your tormentor chooses to take you to court. I’d say teachers who behave badly are fair game.