justplainbil

Just Plain Bill

Tape on My Mouth

A recent article caught my eye and resurrected a painful memory:

“Classroom no-no. A San Antonio elementary school

teacher has been placed on leave after being accused of putting tape over a first-grader’s mouth…” *

Can you remember if you had a classmate in school who couldn’t keep his or her mouth closed? He or she was always talking, especially just after the teacher admonished the class to “be quiet!” Well, I was that student.

When I was in kindergarten, my teacher, Miss Dyer, resorted to putting packing tape (before duct tape) over my mouth and sent me out to recess. As you might imagine, my taped trap (sorry, couldn’t resist) attracted lots of attention of the worst kind. Even without the tape attracting attention, my recess time was usually filled with lots of teasing and taunting (and chasing) due to my extra small stature and my inability to keep my mouth shut.

This was often preceded or followed by the proverbial 
"sitting in the corner" which was supposedly designed to curb my unacceptable behavior. 

These events took place in the days before Ritilin, or other drugs prescribed for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. I certainly would have been a candidate for this type of treatment, but in my days, the "STRSTC" treatment - "spare the rod and spoil the child" was the treatment of choice. 

Guess what I have spent most of my life doing? Teaching and talking - making presentations, while encouraging others to speak their mind, supporting the free flow of discussion in all of my classes.

I meet many who are plagued (or blessed) by always having to talk and talk and talk some more, but I’m never tempted to do what my teacher did to me 70 years ago. Besides, it didn’t help, except for me to be extra sensitive to those who have the need to express themselves, and always have something to say.

*San Francisco Chronicle, 01/23/11. Similar incident reported in Georgia: “An Athens elementary school aide accused of covering a kindergartner's mouth with duct tape to keep the student quiet no longer works for the school district…using tape to keep a child quiet is against school policy...” Athens Banner Herald, 09/26/11