By now most of us have heard the story of John Webster, the Queens physical education teacher who is suing the school where he works after a 6 year-old attacked him.
Webster is 5’10” and 220lbs, and a former Div III football player.
He says the student was jumping, spinning around like crazy and trying to attack him. When Webster restrained him by holding both his arms, the child kicked him in the knee, resulting in an injury that required surgery, broke his ankle and bit him. These injuries have kept him out of work and he has accumulated a lot of medical bills as a result.
It’s easy to want to make fun of Webster for claiming injuries so severe were caused by a child. We think a grown man, especially one as strong as Webster, should be able to protect himself against a kid, right? But what was Webster supposed to have done? The police were called after the attack, but no actions were taken.
Imagine if the scenario had played out in another way. What if Webster had not just held the boy’s arms, as he claims he did, but also struck him or held him on the ground while the kid kicked, hit, and bit the teacher? Webster would have to put the child into a potentially painful and dangerous hold in order to prevent those attacks. How would the media (not to mention his employers and the criminal justice system) view a large Black man forcibly restraining a 6 year old boy, perhaps resulting in the boy being injured?
Here we have a tall, strong man who most likely did exactly what he should have done: restrained a violent student in a way that would not injure the child, and the media is making him look like a wimp. Take, for example, the phrase appearing in most of the news headlines: “beaten up”. Wouldn’t the word “attacked” be more accurate to reflect the actions of the child, instead of playing upon than the alleged weakness of Webster?
Beyond the phraseology being used to make Webster seem weak, even more troubling questions arise. First, why is this minor child’s name appearing almost everywhere in the news regarding this story? This is a 6 year old boy we are talking about here. Even if we were to assume that the kid is guilty of this attack (and there is no reason to believe he is not, but he is not being charged), he is still a minor and his name should be withheld.
What’s worse, photographs of the 6 year-old are appearing in many of these news stories, some with the kid posed in a fighting position. Imagine what we’re teaching this child (and others) about violence with these messages. And amazingly, it gets worse—the caption under the child’s photo reads, “Tiny Terror”.
This is a child, people. A little boy. One must imagine that the alleged violence comes from somewhere. If he is guilty of the attack, he needs help, not exploitation. If he is not guilty, he is forever branded as a “terror”, a deviant, a problem child for no reason. How will he get past this stigma if his face appears on major television networks and on sites like Yahoo! News, attached to the word “terror”? As we know, the Internet lives forever. How will these stories someday affect this boy’s ability to get a job or get into college someday?
Ultimately, we have to ask whose responsibility is it when a child attacks a teacher. Is it the teacher’s job to do what’s necessary to protect him or herself? Or does the school system, and ultimately the city, have a responsibility to keep its teachers safe? How about financially? Should John Webster be awarded a settlement in this case?
Regardless of these answers, it is the media’s responsibility to protect this child, regardless of whether he is troubled, and to keep him anonymous. We must remind ourselves every day that as successful as a great headline and a controversial photo of a little boy with his fists up may be, a child’s future is not worth it in the end.
This is the result of a misandrist society that does not see men as possible victims. The Talk and it’s hosts and entire audience members made light of and laughed aloud at an innocent man getting his penis cut off. There was absolutely no punishment to the show or the hosts. No backlash. If the situation was reversed the show would have been off the air, the hosts fired, NOW would have made a huge deal out of it, and it would get national attention. Because it happened to a man, it is apparently funny. The same when Lionel Richie… Read more »
Jon D: You do bring up some good points but I think one thing people forget is that from every woman I have ever talked to it appears teenage girls have fantasies about their teachers as well. Does this mean a teenage girl is just lucky if she has sex with a handsome male teacher. BTW, I used handsome in that previous sentence for a reason. A few years ago I say on the view coverage of a study done where the researcher used picture of conventionally attractive and not attractive in mock juries to see if “LOOKS” would make… Read more »
I thought about this as well in response to Jon’s comment. While acknowledging that children may have fantasies about having a relationship with an attractive adult, we must still commit to protecting all children from adults who would molest or harass them.
The focus of this for me was how the media has presented the incident. I agree with you Joanna, that there seems to be a sentiment of praise for the kid being able to cause such injury to a large grown man, and conversely, references to how feeble and pathetic this teacher must be for getting beat up by a kid. I find it repulsive for media to select this kind of portrayal of this story, but ultimately I think it is simply media mirroring what most people in our society would come to conclude on their own anyway. This… Read more »
I hope the child was expelled. If he did that much damage to an adult, imagine what would have happened if he attacked a child.
There are some children that don’t belong in regular school. This child needs to be in a school for children with psychological and behavioral problems, not a regular classroom. Maybe by middle or high school, he will have his issues ironed out and can be main-streamed again.
i hope the teacher wins his case, with a big fat settlement too.
And those over the years who have drawn up the rules that leave teachers unable to physically defend themselves, should have the ‘pleasure’ of appearing before government committees to explain themselves
You mean keep his name anonymous like males who are accused of rape, or people who are accused of other crimes and are often innocent, but have their entire lives and reputations ruined forever. Much like the Duke lacrosse boys. I don’t understand why names are ever given unless there is a conviction.
This is a CHILD.
I agree with both of you. It’s not fair to report the name of anybody who hasn’t even been charged with a crime, let alone convicted. But it’s even worse when the accused is a child. Just my opinion, but it sounds like the child did kick the teacher’s legs and cause injury. If he did, then all this attention and mirth is like a reward for the behaviour! It’s outrageous! And the man may be a very good teacher, but he’s probably never going to get enough respect to step into a classroom again after the media has demonised… Read more »
What does it matter if it’s a child or an adult that has their life ruined because they are accused of something that has not yet been proven? An adult actually has far more damage to their reputation than a child does. The name of a rape accuser is kept anonymous so why shouldn’t the accused also have their name kept anonymous unless there is a conviction?
My BFF’s ex-husband is a 2nd degree black belt in karate but he had profound difficulty trying to control a class of 1st graders in Upper Manhattan….just asking a kid to sit down in his chair was a great struggle….
A friend of mine who works with children was attacked by one of her charges, and it was profoundly upsetting to her. I would compare the effect to if she had been mugged. She was assaulted and had limited ability to protect herself. She was so committed to her job that her concern was for the child. She did everything right. Yet later, people acted as though she should have somehow done better and avoided getting injured, herself. In my crowd we say “She shouldn’t have worn that dress” whenever someone trots out a weak, blame the victim argument. It… Read more »