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crime

Kindergarten employee arrested for abusing 5-year-old boy

19 Comments

A 37-year-old woman who works at a kindergarten in Koga, Ibaraki Prefecture, has been arrested on suspicion of abusing a five-year-old boy, police said Saturday.

According to police, Yuka Yamanaka grabbed the boy by the arm, pulled him from his chair and then dragged him out of a classroom and along the floor in a hallway at the kindergarten last Thursday morning, Fuji TV reported.

Another member of the staff saw the incident and notified police.

The boy did not suffer any serious injuries, police said, adding that Yamanaka has denied the charge.

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19 Comments
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If the child was being disruptive, I don't see this as such a bad thing to do. What was the teacher expected to do?

That’s a pretty long answer in itself. It takes a lot of training to teach teachers how to maintain classroom control.

If the child was only being disruptive for that one lesson, then you basically let them do it. You ask what about the other kids - most of them will have bad days as well. And even if they don’t, the fact of life is that sometimes we end up in groups with people who bring us down. That’s life

If the child is regularly disruptive, then maybe they need to be moved to another class, or from the school depending on the circumstances.

What we can definitely say is that teachers must not become physical with the students, unless it’s to protect the physician safety of themselves or another child, and even in that circumstance they have to be extremely careful to only use enough force to stop the actions, and not to go overboard.

And the police? Really?

Yes, really. Abuse of children is an arrestable offence.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If the child was being disruptive, I don't see this as such a bad thing to do. What was the teacher expected to do? Let the child do what he wants and interrupt the other children's right to learn?

And the police? Really? Such a huge over reaction to a small problem.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

To many weak teachers here in Japan try to ignore these bad kids and it just causes other kids to act the same. Dragging an unruly kid out of the class by the arm is far from abuse. I've seen these types of kids bullying the smaller good kids and ruining the whole class just to get attention. Kudos to Ms. Yamanaka and shame on the snitch teacher.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

I have seen such events happen over 20-30 times over the 17 years working in ES and JHS in several prefectures. Bad kids getting dragged out of the classroom by the arm or leg. Or getting shirt-fronted pushed out and scolded so loudly at. JTE kicking the legs of a desk of a sleeping JHS kid.

Never seen it at a pre school though.

Boe's do nothing about it.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Perhaps this woman should not have worked with kids if she's going to treat them like livestock.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Even IF this child was unruly, its still no way to treat a child

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

You cannot keep unruly kids in the classroom because it disrupts the learning of all the other children - which is not fair to them.

You cannot be physically violent to the child either, that is not fair to them.

While it may suck if a kid is being unruly, and will not leave, violence towards them is never the answer. A teacher who resorts to that is a poor teacher. If the child is unruly and won't leave the room, you deal with it at the moment, and then deal with it after the lesson, coming to a plan to ensure it doesn't happen any more, whether that means an additional teacher in the room to stay with the kid, moving the kid to another class, removing the kid from the class/school altogether, or some other measure. No matter which way you cut it, the actions as they are described in this article - pulled him from his chair and then dragged him out of a classroom and along the floor in a hallway - are not appropriate.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

I was at my 8 year old son’s class observation recently and a parent was dragging their 3 year old along the floor. The child refused to walk and she needed to get to her other child’s classroom. The child was laughing the whole way. Whether they like it or not, hardly abuse.

I’m 1,000% sure the child in this article was being unruly and 999.9% sure he would not leave on his own volition. You cannot keep unruly kids in the classroom because it disrupts the learning of all the other children - which is not fair to them. The root of unruliness begins at home. SOMEBODY has to discipline children if the parents won’t.

Besides...science shows that undisciplined children leads to liberalism. ( ^ - ^ )v

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Kudos to the lady who called her in. It's a hard thing to report inappropriate behavior of a fellow worker. Kids at that age can be little devils, but patience should always be practiced whatever the situation.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

Even if the child had been misbehaving badly, ask yourself whether or not you would want a person who behaves this way responsible for the care of your child.

Most definitely not. When I first came to Japan, I taught kids. Later, I trained the teachers who were teaching kids, and also did evaluations. I can tell you that any teacher of quality is able to maintain classroom control, and would never do what this lady did. Teachers who are unable to maintain control in the classroom are the ones who lose it like this lady, and shouldn't be in the classroom in the first place.

-13 ( +0 / -13 )

@DaDude

So the teacher went over the principal's head and directly to police?

And good on the teacher for doing that! As a responsible member of society, you have a duty to make sure abuse is reported properly. Reporting it to the principle first might bring about some troubles or doubts. She didn't just go against school rules, she broke the law. You don't need your boss's approval to report that!

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

I suspect the 5-year-old boy was particularly unruly so she had to drag him out of class room.

Your post seems to be inferring that somehow her action would be justified if he was being unruly.

Um... no it wouldn't.

-10 ( +3 / -13 )

We need to hear the woman’s side of the story. I suspect the 5-year-old boy was particularly unruly so she had to drag him out of class room.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

Michael Jackson: this is about children’s daycare, not an old folks home.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

MJ

Then again, better that the families can see it was actually Mom and Dad doing that to themselves and not someone else doing it to them.....

3 ( +4 / -1 )

So the teacher went over the principal's head and directly to police?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Difficult as there was no cameras. I don’t believe in cameras everywhere, but care homes, and child care should definitely have them. On the street, you have a choice to protect yourself, but vulnerable or weak or young people have no defense.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

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