The teacher was Polish, and was exactly what you would expect from a shop teacher. He heard the joke. Without saying a word, he walked over to the student, picked him up with one hand by his neck, looked at him steadily for a beat while dangling him in the air, and then put him back down and walked away.

Nothing more was said, then or after, and as far as I know the kid didn’t tell any more Polish jokes.

[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I assume this happened somewhere that is not Poland, but could you tell what country it was in? It definitely seems like an uncivilised manner to teach even if efficient

[–] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

This was in the US back in the drinking from the hose water days. Probably if something like that happened today, it would be a big deal, yes.

I think for my opinion it is fine. He didn’t hurt the kid in any capacity, and maybe the lesson he taught him will stick with him later, in situations where the consequences aren’t so measured and forgiving. But that’s just my take on it.

[–] TheUncannyObserver@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I doubt anyone would be making jokes about Poles in school today. That particular flavor of racism has almost entirely died out in younger generations.

As for picking someone up, yeah, that would be a big problem. Regardless of the efficacy of it, it’s still technically battery, just as it was back then. And to be fair, corporal punishment doesn’t really teach any valuable lessons, it just makes people scared of those who are bigger than them. They still do the bad thing they were punished for, they just get creative to avoid getting found out by the people who can punish them. Then they grow up to be Karens who push people around for stupid shit like not giving them enough sauce with their hamburger.

If corporal punishment did work, boomers would be the most polite generation out there.

[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 2 points 1 year ago

If corporal punishment did work, boomers would be the most polite generation out there.

Impolite boomers are just those which were not punished enough

But yeah, I totally agree with your point, and scaring the shit out of someone is absolutely not a substitute for moral lessons

[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 1 points 1 year ago

It's just that I find people who can impress much more admirable than those that can scare. But then again, maybe he didn't scare but impressed that student, the times were different for sure