We are the teachers

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/04/teacher-punches-student_n_871112.html
Watch the above link and let's be honest.

I know that my blog doesn't have a national audience.  The only people who read it are friends of mine.  So really, this is just a way for me to express myself and share it with people I know.  I think life is all about perspective so let's change the perspective of the above incident  to a street corner or a grocery store.  Now, who would the charges have been brought against?  Did you SEE the size of that kid? 
I have been in a similar situation.  I saw a 7th grader shove another against the wall.  Both kids were bigger than me and I marched him to the principal's office.  Now, I did not touch this child but his grandmother accused me of shaking him so hard his teeth rattled.  Really, you should have seen this kid.  If it weren't for the fact that another teacher had witnessed everything from start to finish, there might have been a different outcome because I hadn't had the wherewithal to defend myself.   
Child abuse exists and teachers - unfortunately - have been perpetrators.  However, when did respect go out of the classroom and when did common sense?  We should not hurt our children, those born to us and those placed in our care but neither should we be intimidated by them.  We are to teach them and that includes respect.  That child should have been expelled and the teacher should not have had to leave her classroom because that told all the students at that school where the power lies and it doesn't lie with the adults.