NYC gym teacher claims 6-year-old student beat him up

Working under the assumption that this child did indeed act this way, I believe people (especially children) often act for reasons other than being spoilt/selfish. A lot of the children who misbehave or even bully others have very deep reasons for it and without all sides of the story and an assessment of the child's psychological and emotional situation at home and within himself, I really don't intend to make a judgement about this. I'm alarmed and disappointed, but I certainly don't feel that writing this kid off as "screwed up" or "needing a whipping" is a realistic or intelligent move at all.

I dont think people should be jumping to "he needs a whipping". We dont know the whole story or what his home life is like or his parents. We dont even know if the teacher is telling the truth so I don't think people should be saying what needs to be done without all the info. Frankly its a bit disturbing to me that people here are calling for corporal punishment on this child without all the facts.

EXCLUSIVE: Queens schoolteacher suing city claiming he was beaten up by a first-grader - NYPOST.com

This article has a few more details than the Yahoo! article quoted in the OP.

Apparently Rodrigo is now on medication. It doesn't say what he is being treated for, but if it's something that is best treated with a combination of medication and therapy, I hope that it is not just a case of throwing pills at him and that his mother just didn't happen to mention therapy. I also hope he is being treated because his behavior couldn't be mellowed through a change in parenting or home environment, and it's not just a cop out. Too many kids are unnecessarily medicated.

Also, John Webster isn't suing the parents. He's suing the city. I don't think the article in the OP mentioned that (actually the Yahoo! article makes it sound like he's suing the parents).

I think some people here are trying to put words into my mouth, and I really don't like it. I'm not particularly good at articulating my thoughts, so it's entirely possible that I'm being misunderstood here.

It's true, we don't know what the kid's home life is like. Maybe his parents are abusive or something. Maybe he's learned to do this at home. I don't know, you don't know, none of us know. I'm not saying that the child shouldn't be taken to a psychiatrist at all, as maybe there actually is something psychologically wrong with him. What I'm trying to say here, is that his parents need to take responsibility in this matter. If he did indeed break the teacher's ankle, then his parents cannot sit idly by, protecting their "baby", regardless of why. That's not taking responsibility, that's avoiding responsibility. Taking responsibility would include punishment AND seeking psychiatric help, if needed.

It is my belief that parents who do not take responsibility for their children forfeit them. This, of course, applies to extreme cases, and no, I do not legitimately believe that these parents will not take responsibility at all.

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Originally Posted by Evil Figment

Mind, if he was going to make up a story one suppose it would be less ridiculous.

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I have to admit, it does seem unlikely that someone would invent a story which would subject them to ridicule for the rest of their life. If you injured yourself and you were going to pull some kind of scam to pay for your medical bills, surely you'd just invent some cock & bull story to hit the school for workplace health & safety violations.

In any event, the story says the event happened when he was escorting "several" students, so presumably there are witnesses. In which case, unless there's some kind of history at this school of the kid bullying or being bullied by those other kids, then I'd be inclined to believe the story of this guy at face value.

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In any event, the story says the event happened when he was escorting "several" students, so presumably there are witnesses. In which case, unless there's some kind of history at this school of the kid bullying or being bullied by those other kids, then I'd be inclined to believe the story of this guy at face value.

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If there were repeated incidents of violence, teh bullying one way or another is almost a given.

Also if they're all his age, even their ability to testify in a court of law and be taken at full value is dubious.

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Originally Posted by Evil Figment

If there were repeated incidents of violence, teh bullying one way or another is almost a given.

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Quite possibly, yes. Still, putting things together with this kid now apparently having been put on medication, and that he apparently attacked other teachers as well, I'm inclined to give the man the benefit of the doubt. The kid's strike on him sounds like a one-in-a-million lucky hit, but still plausible.

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Originally Posted by Evil Figment

Also if they're all his age, even their ability to testify in a court of law and be taken at full value is dubious.

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I would have thought it should be pretty easy to see if their stories match, or if the kids responses seem overly rehearsed. Though with the extra stuff from that 2nd article, I guess their testimony would be irrelevant now anyway, since we know he attacked other adults as well.

It is kind of sad that this guy teaches gym and a 6-year-old was able to beat him up.

That's my take from this.

That kid needs some counselling - and a proper one.