It was the first day of the school year and the shop teacher was surprised to see a rather "princess-like" young lady sitting in the front row of the classroom. Her name was Judy and she was the only girl to sign up for the woodworking shop class that term.
The shop teacher asked her if she was sure she was in the right class, and Judy assured him that she was. The teacher then said, "This course may be a bit out of your league. Do you have any experience at all working with tools?"
"What exactly do you mean?" replied Judy. "Well, what's the difference between a nail, a screw and a bolt?" the shop teacher asked. Judy pondered the question for a moment, then replied,
"Well, I can't rightly say as I know, 'cause I ain't never been 'bolted'."
The girls make some of the best students. They bring a different set of hormones to class. They don't take risks to try to impress, so you can put your head down to help another student without worrying too much.
I find about the same in my concealed handgun license classes. In general, the women shoot as well or better than the men, and follow instructions *much* better than the men, so they aren't as big a safety risk. (yet another reason I give discounts to women)
I have noticed also that the more years of experience with handguns a student has, the better job he/she does following instructions. It's the first-time young male student that presents the most challenges.
BTW, I find that the men are better behaved when I have a mixed group and I explain to them why the women tend to be better students...
-- Howard Lee Harkness Texas Certified Concealed Handgun Instructor
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You're hurting their self-esteem. I like to simply embarrass a miscreant in front of others, too. When those they were trying to impress laugh _at_ them instead of _with_ them, they behave.
Trouble is, if you have a principal, you can't have one who sees this as ill-treatment, or you're in trouble..
I _still_ remember, vividly, the day back in high school, when a _serious_ fight broke out between a couple of big bruisers in the metal-shop class.
It was a newly-opened school, and this was the first time there'd been any violence in any of the shop classes.
The shop teacher was about 5'6" tall, _maybe_ 160 lbs, and _looked_ like he'd be more at home with with a green eye-shade, and garters on his sleeves.
The teacher steps back into the shop, observes the ruckus, and casually _strolls_ over to the forge area. Picks up the 'quenching bucket', and starts walking _quietly_ over to the fight scene. Some of the 'more observant' spectators have noticed that the teacher is back in the room, and are alternating watching what he's doing, and watching the fight. As they catch sight of him -- with bucket in hand -- he puts his forefinger to his lips ("Shhhh!"). And he was just radiating this gleeful aura.
He _tiptoes_ up to the fight, and upends the bucket over the two combatants.
Oddly enough, the fight comes to an utter and complete halt.
And, of course, the rest of the room breaks out laughing at the spectacle this pair of bedraggled characters now present.
You just read the thoughts on the (ex-) fighter's faces, plain as day. And the succession of those thoughts was an absolute thing of joy to behold.
1) "What in the _hell_ just happened?" 2) "somebody threw a bucket of water on us" 3) "I'm being laughed at!" 4) "_Teacher_ threw the bucket of water" 5) "He CAN'T *do* that! I'm gonna get him in trouble" 6) "Damn it! I'd have to say what _I_ was doing before he threw the water on me." 7) "Oh shit! this class is over in 10 minutes; how do i explain my condition at my _next_ class?" 8) "Anything I do, from here on, is only going to get me in trouble."
And it begins to sink in -- he can't complain, he can't explain; there's absolutely *nothing* he can do about it.
It's now about 30 seconds after the (abrupt) end of the fight, and an awareness of just _how_thoroughly_ he's been 'fixed', is setting in. (This _was_ the top 'academic' high school in the territory -- even those in the 'non college prep' tracks were _not_ 'dumb'; they got to the answers, just their though process may have been a little slower.)
There _were_ some after-effects, even though the shop teacher did nothing further. The fight was -not- reported upwards in the administration, for possible punishment of the combatants; and he never so much as mentioned it, or anything to do with it, in class.
The story _did_ spread through the student body, like a wildfire. And the two participants were the butt of jokes for a _long_ time.
There was *NEVER* another incident of violence in the shop.
For _this_ spectator, it was an absolute "thing of beauty" to witness.
One of the three or four 'most educational' moments in my entire high- school days.
The analysis, and selection of the course of action -- was positively brilliant.
And the execution -- all I can say is "master at work".
It's merely _thirty-five_ years later, and I can still see every detail, like it happened yesterday.
On Mon, 31 May 2004 01:37:27 +0000, snipped-for-privacy@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) stated wide-eyed, with arms akimbo:
-snip of great and well-told fight scene-
So, what did your teachers say about your being wet, Bawb?
And the teacher's entire memory of that scene was "Well, it worked for dogfights, so..."
Arent memories like that wonderful. I can't forget the clumsy Holly Plotkin at VHS who was always wearing low-cut tops and micro-mini-skirts with sheerest lace panties as she dropped things all day long (on purpose?) When Holly said "Oops!", even the non-adjacent hallways froze and all eyes were on her from around the corners.
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Who, _me_? *Not* bloody likely! a) I was the official school wimp, b) I never took metal-shop, c) I was on the scene only because I was looking for the wood-shop instructor, who's office was off the open shop floor, d) I was the type who was, as soon as the fight broke out, actively looking around for the teacher, or _any_ 'officialdom', to call their attention to the fight. Was debating where to go to report the fight, when the the metal-shop teacher reappeared from the adjacent classroom.
And the entire issue rapidly became moot.
Actually, I suspect it was more like: "Hot DAMN! I've waited _years_ for the opportunity to do this, and now I've *got*it*" Like I said, he was just _radiating_ glee as he snuck up on the combatants. Now, knowing _that_ teacher, I'll concede the possibility that it was deliberate 'acting', to maximize the impression on the spectators.
Unfortunately, in the school system I attended, there _was_ a dress code of sorts. Including a restriction on how far above 'the middle of the kneecap' a hemline could be.
On Mon, 31 May 2004 18:02:35 +0000, snipped-for-privacy@host122.r-bonomi.com (Robert Bonomi) stated wide-eyed, with arms akimbo:
Oh, OK. (ditto here, pacifist)
Oh, I take that back. I was no nark.
Fer sher.
I'm sure glad _I_ didn't have to attend a Victorian high school.
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My High school years were before the advent of "pantyhose" (Curse the inventor of those things!) The "stockings and garter belt" glimpses stuck in my mind and got the testosterone raging. R
I wasn't looking to get the guys in trouble, just get it stopped -- these guys were a serious hazard to themselves, to everybody else in the area (the cheering section was having to really stay on their toes to keep out of the way), and to the breakable stuff in the vicinity.
I dunno about _that_, The girls drill-team had outfits that StarFleet copied. They had those outfits a year before Star Trek went on the air.
I suspect your high-school days were a few years later.
As I recall, the entire dress code was: 1) no shorts, for anybody. Girls could get away with 'skorts', if they satisfied the hemline requirement. 2) I don't remember exactly how it was worded, but guys couldn't wear just an 'underwear' t-shirt, or a mesh sports jersey as a top. (the mesh jersey _over_ the t-shirt *was* ok, however.) 3) The hemline restriction. It _was_ fairly liberal in terms of the then-current fashions -- intent was to restrict 'extreme' modes, w/o limiting 'normal' expression. The restriction was liberal enough that any question of a violation was *very*rare*. Oh, yeah. it was *NOT* gender-specific. One of the guys got called on it, cuz he wore a too-short _kilt_ one day. 4) Shoes, sandals, or similar -- footware of some sort -- was required.
The thing was a whole bunch of a 'non-issue'. I don't recall anybody _ever_ getting any disciplinary action over it. On rare occasions, somebody might get told "you're pushing things" -- which was sufficient.
Part of it was that the administration was _good_. They were willing to try _nearly_anything_ -- *at*least* twice. If it didn't work out the first time, the attitude was 'what needs to be changed so that it _will_ work?' This was how ideas from the _students_ were treated.
I am a 1964 grad from HS. And though they now have panty hose, in my day some of the gurls wore gridles. If you could get yer hand down one of those beaver traps you were doing somethin'
Once upon a time at a company where I worked (and before I was hired), a short-skirted receptionist was walking down the corridor between two buildings. A fork lift operator was watching her more carefully than where he was going, and ran into a wall. Imagine explaining that to your boss. :-)
Sounds familiar, one place I was working hired a cute, young thing as a temp. summer employee. I watched a lift truck driver impale a computer console. He doesn't work there any more, and she was transferred to another area so someone didn't get killed. :-) RJ
film is just great [it's not a real safety video, btw, just an indie film. Won lots of awards] . I've heard that some companies actually use it as part of the training since it gets the point across without putting people to sleep.
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