Most children, at some point or another, will moan about having to head off to school for the day; but you try your best to rally them, assuring them that they will have fun and learn a tonne of interesting new things. We can imagine that the parents of children in this class must feel very betrayed, accordingly.
The Success Academy charter schools in the US have come under serious scrutiny this week, after footage of a teacher ‘berating’ a first-grade student (typically aged between six and eight) was released by the New York Times.
It was a concerned teaching assistant who captured the shocking footage of Brooklyn-based teacher Charlotte Dial, a very well-respected member of the faculty, humiliating the little girl back in 2014.
In the footage, which you can see below, Dial is seen angrily asking the child to explain a math problem. When the girl gives the wrong answer, Dial grows furious and angrily orders her to “go to the calm-down chair and sit” as punishment.
After putting a big ‘X’ through the problem on the white-board, and ripping up the child’s paper, Dial barks: “There is nothing that infuriates me more than when you don’t do what’s on your paper. You’re confusing everybody. Very upset and very disappointed.”
The footage was shown to management at the Success Academy chain, with a spokeswoman branding it ‘shocking’. As one would expect, Ms Dial has been suspended from her position pending an investigation.
The New York Times piece questions whether the footage is a portrayal of ‘abusive teaching’, and from the reports that have surfaced since, it would seem that this is a widespread issue across the Academy’s chain.
(Very disturbing. Is she fired yet?) At Success Academy School, a Stumble in Math and a Teacher’s Anger on Video https://t.co/8DnujT4VAj
— Rev Reaves (@ughREAVES) February 13, 2016
"Rip and redo" Really!! This teaching philosophy makes me furious. NYTimes: At Success Academy School. https://t.co/NDBk74EEw1
— Lina Sors Emilsson (@Sors_H_Tech) February 13, 2016
Wow. This video of a Success Academy teacher berating a child is hard to watch. She's back at work. Appalling. https://t.co/DRuGsMj5ZX
— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) February 13, 2016
Indeed, reports from other previous staff members have detailed how some young students had in the past wet themselves during class, due to being refused permission to go to the bathroom or being too nervous to take a test.
You can watch the footage below.
