Of the professional classes of yesteryear, that of the teacher was  accorded great respect. So manifest was this almost deified status that such a person was asked to preside over social activities in his/her community. This honour also included being asked to adjudicate in village and family disputes. It also extended to writing letters for and on behalf of villagers; witnesses to the making of wills; giving written references; presiding over community socials such as weddings and birthdays; and even assenting to becoming godparents for children. Most of all, a teacher’s assessment of the student’s performance and, above all, conduct, was accepted without question. In fact, parents often advised teachers to administer the necessaries, once the particular instance necessitated such. In other words, parental support for the teacher was unconditional.
Thus, not only was the teacher regarded as the fount of all knowledge and wisdom, but as a person, was held in high esteem, where his/her spoken word was undisputed. This professional reigned supreme at school, and because of the great reliance on corporal punishment as a two-pronged tool that enforced the necessity of learning and discipline, was generally feared. Therefore, teachers being attacked by students was unheard of, a great heresy that would have been met by all-out condemnation.
But the situation with regard to the teacher in the nation’s classroom today has radically changed. Generally, no longer are teachers accorded that well known former reverence, reminiscent of their early predecessors.  To be fair, teachers are perhaps still respected, but certainly not feared by their students.
A peculiar occurrence in today’s classrooms is the phenomenon of altercations between students and teachers, which usually have their   origins in matters of a disciplinary type. In these incidents, intermittently reported in the media, students   are allegedly   beaten by their teachers, using instruments such as table legs, stout pieces of wood and related types that are not officially sanctioned for meting out corporal punishment. Of course, there have been injuries to these students that resulted in court cases, where compensation was offered by the accused teacher  as a means to avoid judicial sanction.
But there have also been instances of retaliatory responses from students, and those that occasioned parents angrily invading classrooms, and attacking teachers, often alleging that teachers have brutalised their children during disciplinary measures.  There is even the well known case of the Linden class teacher suffering a fractured skull, as a result of injuries received from a desk deliberately placed at the top of a door leading to a classroom that she had unsuspectingly opened. This particular case   has been   repeatedly   highlighted by the Guyana Teachers Union executive, that has since issued an uncompromising call that students who attack teachers must be expelled and even suffer custodial penalties.
Indeed, this is a situation portraying a very serious breakdown of classroom discipline, whereby the teacher’s once vaunted  dominance  and authority has been challenged.  Unconditionally, this kind of indiscipline must unreservedly be condemned, as it strikes at the very core of the preparatory process of moulding the young minds for the nation’s future. There must be no excuses for this grave act of classroom lawlessness that exists.
But there are some absolutes that must be clearly understood and examined for a holistic understanding of this serious scholastic undesirable.
First is the incontrovertible fact that both student and teacher are the products of society, at a time when there has been a recognisable   deterioration of   moral standards.   It is an environment where tolerance no longer exists, irrational thinking and behaviour is in full abundance, resulting in the inevitability of violence becoming the means of settling even the most minor of matters.  At the centre of this truism is yet another, that of a very large percentage of the nation’s students emanating from homes where they have experienced much deprivation intermixed with violence. Even teachers in the nation’s classrooms are themselves products of this experience.
Secondly, and as a result from the above, how does one  prevent  the  serious fallout  from the above negatives, from being imported into the classroom, first by the student, and second, by  the  educators, as teachers have been re-designated?
Thirdly, given the fact of today’s changed societal ideals, it certainly requires a teacher trained in the techniques of understanding behavioural problems as it relates to the classroom scenario. Hurling abuse  at already traumatised  children can only set the stage for a descent into the kind of results actualised.  
Fourthly, teachers must understand that it is unfair to transport their personal issues into their daily duties, particularly given the undeniable fact that their classrooms also would have students of similar emotional built. A common weakness in meting out disciplinary action is for teachers to do so in accordance with their personal anger, rather than in commensuration with the type of ill-discipline.
The reality of this serious breakdown that threatens the order of discipline within our classrooms is that there is need for a comprehensive review of current teacher methodology of undertaking the challenge of managing classrooms that consist of students drawn from today’s volatile society.  The particular key question of corporal punishment as a means of maintaining classroom order must be seriously analysed as to its relevance and value in today’s type of classrooms. Very important is its application to students already experiencing emotional trauma.
Finally, there has to be the unconditional involvement of parents/guardians in assisting to combat this particular issue, since it is the home and family where  the prerequisites of good morals and character should be first inculcated in the child. In fact, their role is indispensable along with the teacher, in ensuring an environment that is disciplined and conducive to successful, academic learning.
And notwithstanding that there have been proven instances of teacher excesses towards students, there is the latter category that is known to be  aggressive, rejecting  authority  outright. Parents/guardians again must be reminded that such a student presents a clear hindrance to his/her educational growth and development, and their future well-being, and will not be tolerated within the scholastic hall.