Job Discussion Forums

[kungfucowboy83]

[Hansen]

KFC's observation is a good one on so many levels. If your school countenances students threatening teachers with knives and you choose to stay there, make sure you have medical evacuation insurance.

If the school does nothing, you might consider contacting the Provincial FAO or other authorities above the school. I really doubt that the governmental authorities countenance this type of thing. On the other hand, if the kid is serious, contacting authorities is about as useful as a woman getting a restraining order against her deranged X.

If you were in the States and a black kid told you he had a 9mm slug with your name on it, how would you respond?

Unless you are some kind of missionary, willing to suffer injury or worse, the wisdom of staying in an environment where your personal safety is being threatened escapes me.

I'm glad it is you and not me facing this. It is a perplexing situation. The environment and likelihood of him being serious you know. We don't.

[sharpe88]

The only difference is that it's more macho and healthy to your ego to say you beat the hell out of the guy instead of fighting.

Face it - no good can come from that.

Tell the authorities, principal and if they do nothing get out of the situation. If you attack a student and it turns out he's unarmed, you get

a) fired
b) fired and deported.

If you attack a student and he's armed you get

c) admired like the next Stephen Segal
d) shanked in the ribs
e) you beat him up but get fired and/or deported anyway.

Is c) worth the possibility of the other options ?

"Last month, a student of China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing knifed a professor to death. " Beijing Times

[Hansen]

Sharpe, I admire your aversion to violence. You are correct about the negative outcomes, regardless of who is the victor. If a school countenances students with knives, you can imagine what kind of justice an FT would receive. I suppose that an FT who injured a student in what we would call self defense, might still find himself subject to some sort of penalty. To some, an FT is simply a source of revenue. There are several angles to pursue to that end for the unscrupulous.

OTOH, from a law enforcement perspective, or even a therapeutic one, there is an approach to problem solving known as limit setting. It's not about ego and machismo. It's about letting someone know what is acceptable behavior and what isn't. Good parents use this approachin child rearing.

An important aspect of this educational tool is making clear to the student, prisoner, patient, or child exactly what the consequences of unacceptable behavior will be. We often forget the educational part of the equation. The teacher, etc. must first let the student know what the unacceptable behavior is and, sometimes, why it is unacceptable.

Frankly, in the OPs situation, if he has informed the school and the student that displaying a knife or threatening someone with it is unacceptable and the behavior continues, his best option is to leave the school.

If for whatever reason he chooses to not take the best option, he needs to work out a plan that will assure his safety. I can think of only two approaches: 1) Make friends with the student. 2) Shock and awe.

Better ideas are welcome.

[cj750nomad]

recently in Beijing a student knifed a teacher and killed him ....


the possibility of threats are real but in absence of a real assault .. the authorities will do little...

[sharpe88]

A knife is a serious weapon. Don't be a cowboy.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200810/20081031/article_378872.htm

[cormac]

Its worth noting that if you fight him and the knife goes into the kid, you're likely to face more than being deported. Fights are tricky things at best.. better to be avoid especially if there's weapons involved.

I'm assuming you're the same as most people and weren't trained professionally to deal with an armed assailant? Go with the safest option. There's plenty of work in China, none of which is worth ruining your health or your life over...

[Hansen]

I have found the security personnel at my school quite helpful. They could frisk your students before they enter the class. No knives should be allowed in the classroom. If your school is not taking steps to protect you, take your own. Better yet, leave, if you believe the threat to be genuine.

Unless you happen to be a street fightin' man or, as one poster noted, professionally trained, you are out of your element. If things go bad, you may be dealing with several assailants, not just one. Even a professionally trained person is going to be in difficulty then.

The legal ramifications would be colossal as well. Definitely, for you, a no win situation.

[Lister]

[brsmith15]

What about going to -- or threatening to go to -- the foreign press? You know how scared the Chinese are of bad press.

[kungfucowboy83]

[cj750nomad]

I can tell you that procession of a knife of certain length is a crime unless ur Tibetan which are allowed to carry traditional knives...I was attacked by a market merchant in Sunshine Market near 798 in Beijing with a knife and the locals would have put him in jail had I pressed charges..

[Hansen]

" I was attacked....with a knife."

More info, please. FTs want to know.

Re OP:
KFC is correct. It's important to determine the likelihood of an attack. For instance, Is the kid cruel to animals? Does he have a history of twisting the heads off of small white rabbits? If yes, that is a bad sign. What about fires? Have you ever seen him burn other kids with a lighter or set a fire of any kind? Ever had a trash can in your classroom, the nearby lavatory, or the campus burst into flames when the kid is around?

How about wetting the bed? If the kid lives on campus, you could ask some of his dorm mates if the kid wets himself at night. Check for the telltale smell of urine in his sleeping flat. He may be a bit sensitive about this. Actually, if he finds out you are checking up on him regarding this one, it might push him over the edge, so be careful.

This contellation of signs, animal cruelty, fire setting, bed wetting, is, or was, known as the homicidal triad.

Serial murderers, sexual predators/ homicidal maniacs, etc. have been known to exhibit these signs. If he does all three, extremely bad sign. 2/3 better, and so forth.

Good luck.

[cj750nomad]

walking through the market and ask a vendor how much the sugar coated strawberries were (the kind on a stick as well as apples and what not) when he quoted a price twice as much as the next person paid .. I ask him why my price was double..to which he answered "your a foreigner" to which I answered your a as hole...turned around and walked away ... when I felt a apple hit me in the back...when I turned around he had a knife ...kitchen type ..... using the strawberry display rack .. I defended my self until the security pulled me off and took me to the entrance of the market and ask me not to return but the local PD was alerted ( by a Chinese passerby) and ask me what was going on.. I told them and they ask me to get in the car and went to the market .. drove into the middle ... and to the surprise of the merchant..up to his stall....they did secured the knife and took both of us to the police station (in the back seat of the same car...and all I could think of was .. in the states, they would never put two people fighting into the same car let a lone the same seat) ..asking me what I wanted to do... I told them I wouldn't press charges and I didn't want to make a formal statement; in fact all I wanted to do is talk to the guy to which they said no way...they again ask me to press charges.. I refused.. and just opted for an apology to which the man in trouble was glad to give..the next day I went back to the market and where his stall had been were newly planted bushes...after that the market people were always straight up with the price...

[YankeeDoodleDandy]

Hello CJ750Nomad , It's been years since I've studied Spanish, you got some big cujones. I'm tired of getting ripped off too, merely because I'm a foreigner. However most of the world operates on price haggling.