The Didactor

by Roy F. Chandler

  "There are no other pertinent facts in this matter. A teacher was assaulted and defended himself effectively. He had no choice but to defend himself. Tom Ruby, as is clearly pointed out in the statements, had completely lost control and actually uttered the cry, 'I'm going to kill you,' when he attacked his teacher.

  "It could be entertaining to speculate on what alternative actions a teacher under such an attack might have taken. But the fact is that it was Tom Ruby's intent to seriously harm Mr. Troop. He miscalculated!

  "Therefore, Mr. President and members of the board, I recommend this matter be recognized as simply a case of self-defense and that punishment deemed appropriate for the student, Tom Ruby, be withheld until he can be interviewed and is able to provide his own point of view and enter a personal statement.

  "It is my primary concern at this meeting that Mr. Troop be exonerated of wrongdoing and that the board conclude his actions, under the existing conditions, to be justified. Thank you, gentlemen."

  Boden finished and found his seat amid shifting of feet and rumble of voices.

  Earl Roebuck rose and turned his attention to the entire board. He was forced to pause until the Rubys quieted their whispered support.

  "Mr. President, members of the Newport School Board, Superintendent Boden: I have listened with some trepidation to the administration's presentation of their interpretation of the beating of Tom Ruby by a teacher, Mr. Ben Troop.

  "I find it difficult to accept Mr. Boden's proposal that a teacher has found it justifiable to strike a student repeatedly and with such power that the child's bones are broken, his flesh is torn, and he is so damaged that his condition requires complex surgery and lengthy hospitalization. Gentlemen, really—a shattered jaw, knocked-out teeth, a broken nose? That is self-defense? An incredible proposal!

  "It is our position that such beating of a student is never justified and does, in fact, constitute a blatant example of aggravated assault with intent to commit bodily injury.

  "Actually, what we are dealing with here is, simply, a teacher with a short fuse. Mr. Troop successfully evaded Tom Ruby's amateurish blows, and in his own anger struck back, inflicting severe, possibly permanent harm.

  "This is not a precedent-setting case. It is too commonplace an occurrence. Two people lost control and blows were struck. The difficulty here is that one participant was a student, entrusted by his family and the public into the care of a teacher who brutally beat him. Such actions cannot be tolerated and the courts of our land have many times so ruled. If smashing a student's mandible and crushing his nose is not harsh and unusual punishment then, one must wonder, what on earth could constitute the harsh and unusual?

  "The administration suggests that Mr. Troop's terrible blows were merely a self-defense reaction. Surely, if such was the case, one blow would have sufficed. Surely a broken jaw is more than sufficient defense against two missed blows. Surely a destroyed nose is not also justified. One must ponder what the reasoning would be if Mr. Troop had seen fit to strike three, or four, or more blows. The spurious reasoning here presented suggests that a few broken ribs and perhaps an eye knocked out might also be classed under a self-defense heading, if Mr. Troop had so minded.

  "Safety in the classroom is essential to public education. By law, a family must send its children to school. By law, these children must be protected from abuse while at school. By law, a teacher may not physically assault a student. By any measurement, moral, legal, or common sense, striking a student in the face is improper. To strike with such severity that he is hospitalized with broken bones is abominable.

  "Ours is a civilized society. Occasional lapses of propriety occur. We recognize man's lack of perfection. However, when one is entrusted with the health and well-being of adolescent children, physical abuse is not an acceptable lapse. No teacher has the right to beat a child . . . for any reason!

  "But do I presume too much? Is it possible that Newport school system endorses brutality in the classroom? I cannot believe, gentlemen, that a community with the obvious interest in education, demonstrated by the attendance at this meeting, could condone a policy of domination through physical brutality. Corporal punishment has not been a casual affair for at least a generation. Surely Newport has regulated physical disciplining and punishment for some time. Let us examine what your policies are in such matters.

  "Mr. Boden, does the Newport school system have a code covering the use of corporal punishment?"

  "Of course, Mr. Roebuck."

  "Would you be kind enough to quote its general principles for my edification and the board's reflection?"

  "In spirit, the concept is that corporal punishment may be utilized in the form of spanking or paddling on the behind only by a teacher. Whenever possible another teacher will witness the punishment and such paddling will be reported to the administration by the end of that school day."

  "Thank you, Mr. Boden, but as most schools have ended such harsh punishment, I find it strange that Newport has not done likewise."

  "Mr. Roebuck, paddling is rarely used in our classrooms, but paddling is a tool which may prove useful in certain situations. A workman does not discard a tool because he seldom uses it but retains that tool to be ready when its own special need arises. We at Newport, feel similarly about paddling."

  "You are aware that court decisions have repeatedly gone against all forms of corporal punishment?"

  "No! I am aware that courts have ruled against certain applications of such punishment. Those cases were usually decided upon improper administrative procedures that allowed outdated, unsupported rules to remain part of the school disciplinary code."

  "And that is not the situation at Newport?"

  "No, sir! It is not! Our school codes are revised twice each year by the student elected council and their decisions are voted upon by the entire student body. The revised codes are then presented to the administration, faculty, and finally the board for endorsement. During this time public notice is made through the local newspaper and time is allocated for citizen comment, if any. No, Mr. Roebuck, Newport is in accord with its school codes and you will find them up to date."

  "It is encouraging to note that the entire community has concurred in these disciplinary codes, Mr. Boden. It follows then, that paddling is the only corporal punishment authorized by the school, the board, and the citizens of Newport and that fisticuffs, as engaged in by Mr. Troop, are utterly inappropriate and unauthorized punishment at Newport High School! Is that not correct, Mr. Boden?"

  "Yes, such punishment would be utterly illegal, Mr. Roebuck, but . . ."

  "Thank you, Mr. Boden! That answers my question."

  Boden smiled, almost laughing, and said, "Now Mr. Roebuck, do I have to remind you of the board's statement that this is not a court of law? No one here is bound to answer merely Yes or No to provocative questions, particularly attempts to misdirect the board's consideration of the question at hand. Let me remind you that Mr. Troop was not dispensing justice or punishment. He was defending himself against physical attack. It would be appreciated if you would keep that point in mind while presenting your arguments."

  Miller's voice struck a high, excitable note as he entered the discussion. "Mr. Boden, I am not convinced that Mr. Troop was simply defending himself. When I consider the damage that resulted, while he stood there untouched, your insistence that he was only protecting himself lacks support.

  "It appears to me that Mr. Troop simply beat a boy he didn't like into the hospital. I think a revenge motive is more than probable here and I, for one, am more than willing to hear Mr. Roebuck out."

  Boden thought, damn! But his face remained untroubled as he turned to Mr. Miller. "Of course, Mr. Miller, we are here to investigate the matter fully and fairly. We are all concerned with fairness to both teacher and pupil. However, all evidence, if I may use the term, demonstrates that a teacher was attacked in his own classroom and struck two blows in his own defense. I do not intend to stand by and see those facts di
storted and speculations substituted."

  Miller said, "As you so aptly pointed out, Mr. Boden, this is not a court of law and this board has the right to examine opinion and speculation as well as your administration's prepared defense propositions."

  Earl Roebuck accepted Miller's assistance. "Thank you, Mr. Miller. I appreciate the board's support of my efforts to clarify this very unfortunate situation.

  "With the board's permission, I would like to direct a few questions to Mr. Troop who, after all, is the only person here personally involved in the incident."

  At Boden's direction, Ben moved to a single seat placed before the board and a bit to one side. He found he could face both the board and the audience by mere head movement and recognized that Boden had chosen the spot well. His eyes met those of Earl Roebuck, and the lawyer again felt their impact and the power of the personality behind them.

  Roebuck decided that a direct approach would be best with Ben Troop. He discarded pretense and drove straight to the point.

  "Mr. Troop, I understand that you are a boxer."

  "No, I am not."

  Thrown into confusion, Roebuck quickly perused his notes.

  "But I have it here that you were once a United States Army boxing champion."

  "That is correct, Mr. Roebuck. I was a boxer some twenty years ago but I am not now a boxer any more than you are a football player because you once made your high school varsity."

  "I hope we are not going to engage in semantic bickering, Mr. Troop."

  "No, but, you wish to imply that because I boxed as a young man I am somehow particularly gifted in middle age. I wish to make clear that any skills I may still possess are old and neglected."

  "I feel that the board will find your skills a bit difficult to accept as neglected when two blows virtually destroy a child."

  "Mr. Roebuck, your attempt to depict Tom Ruby as a child is misplaced, as everyone present recognizes. Tom is a man. He is old enough to vote, he has been granted a driver's license, and he is registered for the draft. At his age I had already served in combat. I do not recall anyone considering me a child at that time.

  "While Tom Ruby is a student, he is not a child. He is a fully developed male who lolls about in high school demonstrating his physical superiority on the football field while awaiting only expiration of his athletic eligibility to quit school and go to work. Everybody here, except you perhaps, knows this, Mr. Roebuck."

  Jesus, Roebuck thought. He bore down harder. "It is obvious, Mr. Troop, that you do not like Tom Ruby!"

  "If that is a question, Mr. Roebuck, I'll answer it. No, I do not like Tom Ruby. I have never liked loudmouths who bully the weaker and, if restrained, rush home to tell their parents how they are being abused by unfair teachers."

  A deep-toned rumble of anger rose from the Ruby contingent and feet shuffled nervously throughout the auditorium. On the platform, Mr. Miller obviously ached to enter the fray while the board president, Sylvester Drum, seemed prepared to sink into his own shirt collar.

  Roebuck thought, he just doesn't give a damn about anything. "I can see more clearly now why you initiated such a vicious attack on a student in your class. I wonder how long you had waited for such an opportunity, Mr. Troop."

  Despite his bar experience, he found himself flushing under Troop's level gaze. Christ, there wasn't anything personal in it. Still, the flush deepened and he felt dirtied.

  Troop's answer was firm and carried to the rear of the silent room. The clear blue of his eyes swept the gathering and then returned to Roebuck and the board. His words were directed to the attorney but included the school board as well.

  "Mr. Roebuck, I have on countless occasions encountered Tom Ruby outside of school where I could have assaulted him with some impunity. Instead, I sought to direct him. I encouraged him and tried to guide him. He resisted. I referred him to others, and he refused their services.

  "Tom Ruby has been radicalized by a family that actively fosters disdain for education in their young. He has been made much of at home for his ill-mannered, underhanded, and smart-alecky ways at school. The result is a youth resentful of education and unable to cope with normal school society. He finally disgraced himself before his peers and his teacher. In his humiliation he struck as violently as he knew how at me, his teacher."

  Roebuck shrugged Troop's comments aside with apparent disinterest. "Thank you, Mr. Troop, for your interpretation of Tom Ruby's difficulties. You swing a wide broom, I must say. In cleverly chosen words you have vilified not only Tom Ruby but his entire family and their way of life.

  "However, my concern at this moment is with your problem, not Tom Ruby's family." Roebuck turned from Troop as though to bar his participation and spoke directly to the board. "For the fact is that until this moment we have avoided a point very much the heart of this matter. That point is simply this: Ben Troop struck Tom Ruby two terrible blows. Why the second one? If we were to grant a blow struck in self-defense, what of the second smashing punch, the one that broke Tom's nose?

  "Now really, gentlemen. Are we being asked to accept that such a blow was necessary to defend against a boy already suffering a smashed jaw and who must have even then been slumping to the floor in shock and agony?

  "If we grant Mr. Troop a defense motive, it is still impossible to claim it for that second awful crushing blow to Tom Ruby's face. That blow was revenge pure and simple!"

  Roebuck fixed the board with a gaze so stern it burned to their brains. "A man like Mr. Troop is a modern anachronism. He is a throwback to the day of the one room school house and the willow switch disciplinarian who ran it. He is as out of date as the whipping post or the dunce cap.

  "Today a teacher educates by positive motivation; not by the iron fist. In this enlightened era, classroom difficulties are solved by accommodation, guidance, and compassion, not by the hickory stick. Never, never by the clenched fist!

  "Mr. Troop failed to satisfy a youth's needs and allowed an intolerable situation to develop. When that condition inevitably exploded, he again failed to dampen the fires. Instead he attempted to crush will and spirit by physically battering that youth into submission.

  "Ben Troop, a man entrusted with the well-being of hapless children, has beaten one of his charges. In the name of common justice we submit that the board can only find Ben Troop guilty of misjudgment, improper discipline, and personal vengeance in the matter.

  "As Tom Ruby's appointed representative, I respectfully request the Newport School Board to suspend Ben Troop from teaching until such time as he can be permanently removed from any position on the faculty of Newport school system.

  "Thank you, gentlemen."

  +++++

  There was silence in the auditorium. Even the Rubys sat mute, as though waiting expectantly for some cataclysmic eruption. Earl Roebuck retained the floor.

  "Mr. President and board members, I would like to inject one final thought that is pertinent to this discussion and with that thought I rest our case.

  "A person in a position of power, such as a teacher, can goad a student into reckless actions in defense against utter destruction of personal dignity and in defense against unbearable insult to self and those held dear. Gentlemen, it is not always those who deal the first blow that initiate the fight!"

  Sylvester Drum examined his audience and the participants, and decided they had had enough. He addressed them all. "Has anyone anything further to say in this matter?" He hoped they did not.

  To the rear of the room a long hand raised itself fearlessly above intruding heads. Sylvester recognized the hand and the length of skinny arm attached to it. In the future, he resolved to let Clara Coons' faucet drip. But, as was his duty, he merely said, "Clara?" giving her the floor.

  "Mr. President, a group of concerned citizens has gathered signatures on a petition, which I would like to read into the record of this meeting. The petition contains some hundreds of signatures and reads as follows:

  "We, the undersigned, are dee
ply concerned that the safety of children in Newport High School is seriously jeopardized by the presence of Mr. Ben Troop. He has demonstrated complete irresponsibility by repeatedly striking a student until that student suffered grievous injury.

  "We, the undersigned, demand that the Newport School Board take steps to relieve Mr. Troop of his position as a teacher on the staff of Newport High School and sever his association with the school system."

  A spattering of applause rose from the gathering of ladies near the back of the auditorium. To their complete embarrassment, their approval was taken up by the Ruby aggregation who added their meaty-handed ovation, interspersing the applause with hoots of agreement.

  Boden rose and accepted the petition for the board. He extended it to Sylvester Drum who glanced at the rows of scrawled names and found a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He thought how often he found the same names on petitions hustled about the town. No matter the cause, there seemed an element in Perry County that would place their names in support of it. He knew from experience that if a petition had been circulated supporting Ben Troop, many of the same names would have been found on it.

  He passed the petition on to Doctor Shanks beside him and gravely thanked the ladies for their interest in the problem at hand. Inwardly he muttered one strong word and then apologized to himself for having used it.

  +++++

  David Campbell viewed the proceedings with a sense of nostalgia. He hadn't seen a board in action like this for years. How different it was from the pile-carpeted, PA-systemed formalities of urban education. There, rules of procedure were dominant and personalities only irregularly entered into decision making. Here, in Perry County, it was all meat and potatoes. Here, in this school, a few good men tugged and hauled their school policies into what they considered the shape and substance their community desired.