Teaching: the "Chicago Way"

As a teacher, I will admit that I am naturally inclined to be suspicious about news stories like this one, but after reading it, one must admit that there is quite a bit of fire with that smoke.

It seems that quite a few teachers in Chicago have developed a habit of physically abusing their students; hundreds of teachers, actually.

...An exclusive CBS 2 investigation discovered Treveon Martin is one of at least 818 Chicago Public School students, since 2003, to allege being battered by a teacher or an aide, coach, security guard, or even a principal. In most of those cases - 568 of them - Chicago Public School investigators determined the children were telling the truth....

What makes this even more intriguing is that most of these abuse cases happened during the administration Chicago Schools Superintendent, Arne Duncan. And just who is he? Why, he is Obama's pick to head the Department of Education!

..."Any founded allegation where an adult is hitting a child, hitting a student - they're going to be gone," Duncan said.

But that's not what happened under Duncan's watch. Of the 568 verified cases, only 24 led to termination. Records show one teacher who quote "battered students for several years" was simply given a "warning" by the Board of Education....

Even with the number of cases of student abuse accusations, I would still like to see more information on the specifics of these cases. Did a teacher defending himself from an attacking student count as abuse toward that student? Either way, do you think the media would care were it not Barack Obama's appointee heading the Department of Education? I do have to wonder if we will the reputation of yet another Obama nominee go south?

Good Day to You, Sir