Why an American Student Was Severely Punished for Humiliating His Teacher

Recently, a news article stirred up commotion among parents. A high school student in Texas was fined $637 for being rude to his teacher, and until today, this student has been working part-time to pay off his fine. It may come as a surprise to parents that such severe punishment was doled out just because a student was rude to his teacher, leading us to wonder if there is no better way to educate a student other than fining him.

This piece of news seems dumbfounding at first sight, but it actually reveals much more if looked into carefully. In the U.S., schools strictly enforce their rules and allow for no form of flexibility. If students show up late without an acceptable reason, they will be asked to clean their classroom for a month; if students are caught cheating during examinations, they may even be expelled. We will not discuss whether these rules are too strictly enforced, but will talk about how we should learn from these instances. First, school rules are usually established collaboratively by the community and the parents’ association. Regardless of how strict the rules are, both parties are aware of the consequences and willingly accept them. Second, since the rules have been established, they should be strictly enforced. Besides, there is an entire investigative process that the school goes through, depending on the case being filed. Most of the fines are paid by the student through part-time work and are not paid by their parents.

On the other hand, this is not the case in our schools. As long as the student does not exceedingly breach the school rules, the school will show leniency to that student. Gradually, the power of school rules diminishes, and the school management can only hope that the teachers and students are disciplined enough to follow the rules. Furthermore, some schools previously established astonishing rules like requiring students to carry a bag, forbidding students from watching Hunan television and prohibiting the use of MP3 players, which led to much dissatisfaction. These kinds of school rules are often set by the school and lack objectivity as well as participation in the decision-making process. Most of the punishment is eventually handled by the parents, such as when the teacher calls on parents to educate their child properly, or when parents pay fines for their child. As such, we can only imagine how effective education is in China.

Li Ka-Shing once mentioned that ideas translate into behavior, behavior translates into habit, habit translates into personality, and personality translates into destiny. He talked about the importance of habitual behavior, and that nurturing good behavior requires individual commitment and discipline instilled by educators. If we want our society to become more aware of discipline and rules, why not start by following school rules?