"And God forbid the kids involved were black."
Same for Hispanics *and* Blacks in my Mom's school, which was around 80% "Chicano" and around 15%+ Black students, with the remaining 3-5% being white kids of parents too poor to join the White Flight.
And around the time she started, in 1970, things had taken a steep turn downwards wrt teachers' & principals' options to use physical discipline, so that the charge of "RACISM!" would be hurled at any white teacher who so much as firmly grabbed the elbow of an out-of-control student to escort them away from trouble. Since the vast majority of the teachers were white, and virtually all of the students were brown or black, this led to a mojor breakdown in discipline, as students realized there would never be serious consequences for almost ANYthing they did.
But there was one teacher to whom this limitation did not apply. He was a shop teacher by the name of Floyd Ewing, I believe. He was very tall and very strong and very black. He refused to take any lip at all from his students, even the boys who were very large & strong themselves due to being 16-17 years old but still stuck in Jr Hi (FYI, there was a whorehouse across the street from them, with some of the older students being customers).
Nobody got away with talking/disruption in his class. Nobody got away with disrespect, ESPECIALLY not talking back to him or insulting him. Floyd was famous for picking up students by both shoulders, and ramming them hard into the wall. My Mom said that she and the other teachers were all green with envy of Floyd's ability to get away with what they could only dream about in their happiest dreams.
Reminds me of the tiny principal in Kindergarten Cop who vicariously imagines herself in place of the Schwarzenegger character, punching the lights out of the guy who beat up his wife & 5yr old son.
“But there was one teacher to whom this limitation did not apply. He was a shop teacher...”
Shop teachers are allowed to require discipline in their classes, since the safety of students is an issue, due to the use of dangerous industrial machines and tools. Students who refuse to comply with instructions are punished or expelled.
The question is why do school administrators allow shop teachers to require discipline in shop classes but deny teachers of other subjects the right to exercise the same authority in their classes. Student safety should be paramount regardless of the class a student attends.