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I understand what he was trying to do, but when there's a smart way and a stupid way to accomplish something

I think he should be judged by the long-term results he has achieved, and not just in the case of one student, but all the students.

I consistently tell my high school aged son that school is his "job" at this point in his life. And it really is. The skills and disciplines he perfects in school will carry over directly into the work environment, where employers still generally have the right to hire and fire according to who contributes to the bottom line, and who doesn't. Sleep on the job or disrupt the work of other employees in the private sector and you'll make the unemployment line your steady date.

One day about a year ago my son came home from school and said, "Dad, if school is a 'job,' then half the kids at school should be fired." He told me about how discouraging and frustrating it was to have to fight above the noise and in-your-face ennui of a hard-core group of disrupters whose bad attitudes and behavior were infecting other students in adverse ways.

I don't know how effective this particular teacher's methods have been in turning out disciplined, well-educated young men and women. The story is thin on such details. If they have been effective, then speaking as a taxpayer (like a shareholder in a privately owned company) I believe he deserves a raise, not a sacking, for earning me a good return on my money.

I think he should be judged by the long-term results he has achieved, and not just in the case of one student, but all the students.

I dunno. "What about all the babies I didn't throw out of windows?" doesn't usually get you very far, in my experience ;)

Anyway, it looks to me like he fought the law, and the law won. Again. He made a bad choice, and I don't have a lot of sympathy for guys who look to the lawyers to rescue them from the consequences of their own bad choices.

He told me about how discouraging and frustrating it was to have to fight above the noise and in-your-face ennui of a hard-core group of disrupters whose bad attitudes and behavior were infecting other students in adverse ways.

Just remind him that someone has to man the deep-fryers of the world, and eventually his attitude will pay off ;)