Agreed. (Again, heh.) I may have mentioned it previously, but when I was in school a girl in my 4th grade class had her headband taken away for the day & it didn't even make noise, she was just playing with it instead of listening to the lesson. The only difference between this and that is that headband could easily be snatched away...and the girl gave up her headband willingly, she didn't resist/have to be tricked. (Adding fuel to the teacher's fire, no doubt.)

People make a point of saying how teachers are not "God", but they want them to have the patience of saints. I'm sorry, but they're human too! I'm confident that we all have acted unreasonably at some point in our lives. Maybe we just yelled when it wasn't completely warranted, but still you would think people would have an ounce of understanding since we've all been there to some degree.

This is a great question, because it's going to bring out all the self righteous "I'm the perfect parent" type of comments.  Yippe!

Last I checked, it wasn't a requirement to learn how to cut hair when in college to become a teacher.  If I wanted my child's hair cut, I'd take them to the barber, not my child's first grade teacher!  If my child acted this way, I would appreciate being told calmly, first, so that I could take appropriate action. If the teacher just took it upon herself to cut my child's hair, I would be angry.  I would hope my children never acted badly in school, but my mom raised me with manners and I still messed up from time to time.  Most kids I know got in trouble at least once in school. I've yet to meet the perfect parents who raised the perfect kids.

Seriously, My mom has been a teacher for over 33 years and has never done anything like this. Why? Because she knows the proper way to handle this kind of situation.  She even agreed that what this teacher did was wrong, AND SHE'S A TEACHER!  Of course, she also agrees that many children aren't very disciplined and she's had very stressful school years. She has always acted professionaly and done the right kind of discipline.  She's never physically disciplined a child.  There are other ways to dealing with bad situations. Also, for an entire year, she's put up with worse behavior than some girl playing with her hair!!!!    

And this statement "Teachers could make you wear a silly hat for being dumb." .... I have hardly any words. Seriously? You think that teachers now a days should still be able to point out kids and call them dumb and let the entire class make fun of them? Are you serious? And you want to call other people bad parents?

The child should have been disciplined but the teacher should have never cut the child's hair.  There are a million ways in which this teacher could have handled this situation better.  Who knows what may happen the next time this teacher snaps because a kid is being a kid.  Sure the child could have behaved better but I have never met a child who didn't annoy someone simply because they knew that is exactly what they were doing, being annoying!

I wasnt aware that public humiliation was a factor in raising children. There are other ways of punishing a child without playing on their self-esteem.

I have a feeling if the situation were reversed & a student came at the teacher with scissors & cited stress later on, people would try to get that students locked up. Kids will be kids. Sometimes they do act out & play around in class but that doesnt give someone the right to cut off their hair or humiliate them. EVER. 

WOW. Your sadistic mentality is just as fucked up as that of the teacher who cut the girl's braid. This is the year 2009, not 1809. Good thing you don't teach.

Yeah. As a former teacher, now a stay at home mom, I would have lost my job instantly for much lesser things. My teaching job also, wasn't your stereotypical teaching job. I worked with CPS, with at risk kids from newborn to 12 years of age. I taught head start preschoolers. I worked daily with social workers, abused children, children from drug homes, foster kids..etc.  A kid playing with their hair was the least of their worries in my class room, I had a 5 year old threaten to shoot me.

Humiliation is never the answer, and they're going to do the same to you. Teachers, and parents alike should be leading by example not humiliation.

I was only once humiliated by a teacher. He was a coach, who taught history. He insisted that we all say "yes sir" and "no sir". Yet he'd spend an entire class yelling at us. I don't mean a raised voice, I mean red-faced yelling.  So one day he asked me a yes or no question.  I said yes. He stood me up in front of the class, yelled at me. Drug me out of the room by my arm. Yelled at me in the hall where other classes could hear, the french teacher next door even shut her door, because he was disrupting her class. Then he paused, looked at me and said, say "yes sir". I looked at him (I was 12), and said "No, those are words of respect, you have not earned my respect." He looked at me and went off about how I smelled like cigarette smoke, and to explain myself. My mom smoked in the car, my mom smoked in the house.. and that is what I told him. So he threatened to turn me into the campus police for smoking on school property...and insisted on searching my bag and jacket. Which, I refused. Eventually he'd had enough, and refused to send me to the office...because he knew he'd messed up big time. Next day my mom had a conference, he was allowed to work the rest of the year, because they were very short staffed, but after that he was transferred schools, and was no longer allowed to teach...only coach.

Yes, there are parents who don't teach their children to behave as they should which is bad.  But that in no way excuses the teacher from cutting the girls hair off.  That is beyond inappropriate.  The teacher easily could have sent her to the principal's office instead.

I'm a mother and I try to keep my children in line.  If they misbehaved at school I would be fine if they were put in a corner or sent to detention.  But I would not under any circumstances be comfortable with a teacher humiliating them or cutting off their hair.

@draco1531@xanga - No thank YOU! I cant believe this poster is preaching what this teacher did was perfectly alright & tried to blame the matter on parents not teaching their children. That's crazy. Her response to me on my post was not very nice either.

With that whole ordeal I feel the teacher should receive some kind of punishment for it. not like a death sentence or lose their job, esp with how hard the jobs are. but maybe see the councilor or something bout frustration relievers. people absent mindedly play with their hair all the time I know I do it. but thats because I cut my head open when I was three so I always play with the hair in that one spot. still these arent always something that can be helped and it's not like the girl was trying to disrupt class or anything. I thought it was in the old days when a teacher could hit a kid with a ruler on the knuckles? shouldn't that involve any touching of the child? even cutting off a braid? Freedom to wear what you want, its not against the law for her to have beaded braids. girls in my class had them all the time when I was in elementary school. She shouldn't have to stand in front of everyone and take them out. I'm only 19 and I know that parents trust when they send their kids to school they are entrusting that their children come home the same as they left, except with extra knowledge in their noggin. I think this whole thing is ridiculous and could have been avoided if the teacher didn't let her frustration get the best of her. we all get frustrated but theres a time a nd place for everything and that certainly was unacceptable.  cutting off a braid is a permanent thing until that hair grows back, a temporary headache or little frustration goes away easily. the hair doesnt come back as easily. 

I don't think anyone is trying to say that the girl shouldn't have been punished. Any number of the things you listed about what teachers could do in your day and did do in your day would've sufficed, as far as I am concerned. But that teacher had zero right to put her hands (or scissors) on that child in any way. That is not acceptable in this day in age, corporal punishment of any kind isn't allowed. If you think it should be, that's another matter.

I agree, she should have been punished and bad behavior certainly is something to be ashamed of. But, that teacher had no right to touch her or her hair.

And the things your mother would've done to you is irrelevant in this case. Because, she is your mother and would have had a right. That teacher, however, is no relation and had no right.

That teacher did get off too easily for breaking rules and putting her hands on a child the way that she did. Or at all, really. No matter how obnoxious. And, she should have been fired for it.

Taking away the girl's beads would have been appropriate. Cutting off her hair is just going way over the line. That is why I think she should've been fired. Not because she punished the girl, but because of how she punished the girl.

I agree with this for the most part, which kinda surprised me.  I read the original post, and was seriously pissed off that a teacher would do that.  But I didn't really know how to respond to something like that, since it's also the parent's fault the child was a distraction.  The girl really was disrupting all of her class because of the beads in her hair.  In the end, the teacher didn't have the right to cut out the girl's braid - I think everyone's in agreement to that.  But the idea of making her take the beads out herself is a good one, since that would solve the problem.

When an adult reaches the point that they can no longer deal with a child's misbehavior in an adult manner it's time to send the child out of the room. The child behaved in a childish way because she is a child. Maybe she had horrible parents who don't discipline her and let her run wild, maybe she had a nervous tick that made it impossible for her to leave her hair alone who knows? Who cares? Either way the child is a child. Period. The teacher is an adult in a position of authority and I believe it's fair to expect her to act that way all the time. The teacher had alternatives listed in disciplinary procedures of the school for dealing with a child who will not behave and cutting the childs hair is not one of those alternatives. Sure being a teacher is tough, sure maintaining control in the face of bratty kids is hard but those are simply excuses. The teacher is always to blame when the teacher loses control. Period. She may have her reasons but in the end she lost it and she needs to take responsibility for the choice she made.