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killian

what does your school do about knives? do they allow them, turn a blind eye or what?

the boys here are packing and it is disconcerting. one kid has already told me he has a knife for me. now he is a dropout but hangs around the (unsecured) school most everyday.

Mister Al · Joined: 28 Jun 2004 Posts: 840 Location: In there

We don't have a policy. It's all chopsticks around here. Wink

mikefriend

killian · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 4:01 am Post subject:

he said something like "laoshi- wo de daozi deng ni". his english is worse than my chinese and i take it mean his knife awaits me. he told me this while he skipping class out on the blind side of the school.

mikefriend · Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 5:00 am Post subject:

Well when that statement is made and you see a knife I would say all bets are off and you need to take the offensive and slowly and calmly walk up to the guy and then just knock the crap out of him quickly and efficiently.

At the end keep his knife as a memento of your days events.

brsmith15 · Joined: 12 May 2003 Posts: 1142 Location: New Hampshire USA

Knives? Don't eat peas with them!

Seriously, tho, I think you've got a potential problem brewing. Did you tell your school authorities? The PSB? The Triads?

Eyrick3 · Joined: 29 Mar 2008 Posts: 161 Location: Beijing, China

I would say all schools would be anti-weapons of all kinds.

I've yet to hear of a school that actually allows their students to bring knives to class. Well, accept for perhaps a 厨师学院.

cj750nomad · Joined: 11 Oct 2008 Posts: 252 Location: Beijing and

many Chinese students carry box cutters to sharpen pencils and to do a little fine ball room carving on their FT...

mikefriend · Posted: Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:26 am Post subject:

cj750nomad · Joined: 11 Oct 2008 Posts: 252 Location: Beijing and

i thought it was to carry on jihad..now;...ball room carving requires Pabst Blue Ribbon... and a woman with enough hair to fill a pick up truck...but if u feed your Chinese students with a steady diet of Jerry Springer, they adapt to "trailer" park culture quickly...

Hansen · Joined: 13 Oct 2008 Posts: 737 Location: central China

You should be determining your own personal policy on knives, especially after being threatened with having one used on you. My experience indicates that Chinese management style does not always include crisis aversion. In this case, since the crisis includes you being stabbed, you need to take serious stock of the situation.

Frankly, if a student threatened you with a knife and displayed it, unless you happen to be the kind of person who goes like a lamb to the slaughter, he crossed a line and deserved a severe beating. It would probably cost you your job and might even lead to more serious injury if other students got involved. On the other hand, do you want to work in an atmosphere of fear and intimidation? Next time, he may do more than display it.

Most likely, no matter what the justification, you are going to lose in this situation. If you beat the kid and stick around, his parents are going to want to be paid. If he stabs you, seriously, what's going to happen to you?

Another approach would be to take special pains to befriend the student to defuse the situation. If he is a true sociopath, of course, he will use the friendship to simply get a better opportunity to stab you.

The Chinese sense of humor can be quite different from that of waiguoren.
May all be just a joke. Do you have enough experience to determine the seriousness of the threat? Are stabbings common in your area, in your school, or around it? If yes, you've got a problem.

Get the school authorities involved.

Teatime of Soul · Joined: 12 Apr 2007 Posts: 905

Policy = bigger and faster knives have right of way over smaller and slower knives. Unless there is a jackknife in an intersection. ; )

mikefriend · Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2008 11:48 pm Post subject:

sharpe88 · Joined: 21 Oct 2008 Posts: 226

Get in a physical fight with a supposedly armed student ?

That's bad advice on so many levels.

Speak to the authorities ASAP.

Neilhrd · Joined: 10 Jul 2005 Posts: 233 Location: Nanning, China

Speak to the authorities -- who will do precisely nothing.

In a previous school there was a pupil who everyone agreed had a psychological problem. He repeatedly attacked other students, threw clothes out of the windows, banged his own head against the walls etc.
Repeated complaints to the authorities by the foreign teacher, the DOS and the Chinese teachers achieved nothing. Eventually he threw a piece of wood which hit the FT above the eye causing a cut which required several stitches. Result -- the school refused even to suspend let alone expel him. His parents were called to the principals office and I believe paid a fine none of which was offered to the FT as compensation. The FT was ordered to continue teaching the boy as though nothing had happened. He tore up his contract and left China in disgust. Tom was one of the finest teachers I have ever heard and China's loss.

In this country you fight your own battles in your own way and don't expect support.