Indiana cops arrest violent 6-year-old

Bad position

Parents and educators have been building up to this sort of thing for YEARS. Now that they've put all these restrictions in place, and now that you can't punish kids like this in an effective way, they've painted themselves into a corner.

We had our kids in a private school then, for various boring reasons, moved and have them in public school. The difference is tremendous, and we moved away from a "gauche blue collar" area to a well-to-do suburb. The boys keep asking why the bothersome kids, who are always causing trouble and bullying, can get away with it. One of our sons got in trouble for hitting BACK. (I think the fact that he used martial arts knowledge worked against him within the system.)

When you get called out of work to defend your son because he was blindsided by the class bully and had the gall to defend himself, ... It's a sorry world.

Does this suggest a new era of restraint (no pun intended) by US police? Most previous similar stories featured in El Reg would have seen the officer CSing or Tasering the 'juve perp'

I like the taser idea

I'll bet $10,000 if the brat gets tased everytime he gets unruly, he will change his ways damn fast. Either that or give him the PC "time out" in his room - for three weeks. If you don't correct bad behavior it just becomes worse. Tolerating this crap from a six year old is unacceptable. Most competent parents would have resolve his attitude issues four years ago.

Bah!

My suggestion: Six days detention on the school maggot pit.

TV is to blame

I bet that's going to be what the parents say.

Problem is by law nobody is allowed to effectively punish kids any more. Many parents are feckless and will give in to any whim of their child for a few minutes peace and quiet. This will include giving in to their temper tantrums, breaking things shouting swearing screaming etc. In the end the parents give up and just use the TV and a games console as a virtual babysitter.

Then they expect schools to teach discipline. But the schools can't do anything. Wanna know why the principle called the police? Because he cannot legally remove the child by force himself. I agree with that flowers person, calling the police wasn't the best way to deal with the kid, but thanks to all the hippies and left wingnuts its the only option he had which wouldn't result in an inquest which would ruin his career.

And where does a 6 year old learn to act like that? Attacking adults and threatening to kill schoolmates. Sounds to me like there's probably trouble in the house and it might be an idea to call in child services.

This is why I always advocate that before a parent has a child, they should legally have to take parenting lessons. They should be taught how to deal with a screaming child, how to punish, how to educate, how to feed and clothe them. Because a lot of young parents these days just don't know how. All they know is they're no longer allowed to spank the child and the only other way to punish them they know of is to shout and threaten.

Then when the child starts to do the same they say the kid must have picked it up from watching TV with them to avoid the blame.

Parents need to be taught how to discipline children effectively

Teachers need to be given powers to discipline unruley children effectively

They need to stop using TV as a defense for their bad parenting.

I also advocate the return of corperal punishment. Not in terms of cane for every msitake. But sometimes a clip round the ear is needed.

Bah!

Well done El Reg! This story works on so many levels.

I love the fact that the Indychannel (whatever that is) got a comment from a neighbour, aka "someone who isn't a teacher or teacher's assistant in any class with the boy, wasn't present anywhere the incident played out and doesn't actually live with the family so is a natural witness as to the boy's standard of behaviour".

Then there are the comments from a self-confessed teacher (though not well represented as such by his right hand).

Voland: More please. I know you said you wouldn't, but there is a growing fan base for your right hand's meandering op-ed pieces. I don't tweet, but if I did I'm almost certain I would be tweeting your praises, perhaps with the vowels stripped out for brevity or something. I'd definitely do something facebookily positive re: Voland, were I in fact in possession of a facebook account.

Call the cops. On the parents

IMHO the correct answer is:

1) restrain the child from kicking anybody. This may require a degree of physical contact (grabbing and lifting the child clear of the ground). Ideally a quick swat to the backside with an open hand as well, to deliver the "short, sharp shock" to bring the child back into contact with reality. Then you place the kid in a room with as little to destroy as possible, and don't let them act out.

2) You call the parents and inform them that they are to pick the kid up and take him home - he is suspended for a week. If the parents give you any guff about "I'm at work and I cannot/will not come get the kid" - you send the police around to their place of employment and have them informed that they are either going to pick the kid up or be picked up themselves for child abandonment.

3) You tell the parents that until the child can be controlled the child is not allowed to come back to school, AND that the parents are responsible for seeing the child is properly supervised during the day (either one of the parents, or a responsible adult), and that this WILL be checked up on by social services.

4) You inform the parents that a requirement of the child being allowed back in school is that the parents agree, in legally binding writing, that the school may use needed force to prevent the child from hurting itself or anybody else. NOTE: needed force for a 6 year old is physical restraint by an adults hands, a swat to the backside by an adults hands - NOT tasering, Mace-ing, straps, etc.

In short, you do that most horrible of things: you make people TAKE RESPONSIBILITY for their actions. The parents have primary responsibility for teaching their feral fonication-fruit how to live in this world we find ourselves in, and if they will NOT do that willingly, society WILL make them.

Take off and ....

Nuke the kid from orbit - it's the only way to be sure !

It's a school...

It's the schools role to educate the children.

If they are not ready to be educated, or are disrupting the education of other children who are ready, then they should go back to their parents.

Some of the posters here seem to think that the schools role is parenting and that there must be "something" that can be done, never mind the cost to those who are there ready to learn.

School isn't the place to fix all parents failings, although (as a governor) I see sometimes how far they go to try and make up for it in some case.

Teachers in America are told that the worst thing you can do is put your hands on a student. Unless the student was an immediate danger to him self or to another students a teacher is not allowed to put there hands on a student. In some school districts you are not allowed to yell at the kids. If the teacher laid a hand on a six year old, that teacher would be fired and possibly looking at a trip through the justice system.

Remember when...

... an unruly child in the classroom was brought to heel by the teacher simply saying, "If you don't stop that, I'll have to call your parents." ?

Must be a really slow news day. Other news websites reported on this, last week, when it actually happened.

Throw the whole damn family in jail

If they are this out of control they belong in the slammer.

There is on other problem too

Most teachers are women now, and for some reason male kids have more problems in school than girls and there seems to be no means to alter that. And, of course, it is so wrong to speak about any gender related issues.

A new low

Well, I think link to this and file it with my "new low for register commentards" links.

Honestly, the people here baying for children to have sense beaten into them, while taking a moral high ground and slagging off teachers as incompetent is utterly disgusting.

What seems to be unclear

A lot of people on this thread are writing in ignorance of one simple fact: most American jurisdictions there are special School District police agencies. Here in Palm Beach County the Palm Beach County School District Police is the third largest police force in the county, after the Sheriff''s Office and the West Palm Beach City department. There are _lots_ of school cops in cars hovering near schools from elementary to high. And the school cops are employed by the School District and _do_ have training for dealing with, ahem, 'youthful offenders', and they are the ones who have jurisdiction in schools, not regular police. I don't know which county in Indiana it was, or if that county has a School Police force, but if it did, it would be the school police who were called in.

It's called "scared straight". The consequences of violence, or inappropriately acting out physically will be intervention by the local law enforcement authorities. This time, it may just be a ride to the police station, followed by the parents' picking the kid up and dealing with him at home*. Eventually, its going to be actual legal consequences. Better to let kids see this early.

*Its also possible that the parents might be a couple of losers. They could either laugh it off or, worse yet, give the kid their own beating. So the cops will get a chance to make contact with the parents at the hand over and assess the possibility of domestic problems.