Should Schools Consider Subliminal Hypnosis to Help Combat Disruptive Students?

What happens when the UK law renders teachers virtually powerless when trying to control rowdy students?

The Peter Harvey incident.

On July 8th 2009, Peter Harvey, a science teacher at All Saint’s Roman Catholic School, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, brutally attacked pupil Jack Waterhouse.  Mr Harvey hit Jack Waterhouse with a dumbbell; the attack so forceful, that it left Jack with a fractured skull.

Below is the CCTV footage following the attack:

Everyone initially jumped to the defence of the pupil, but then evidence later emerged that Jack Waterhouse was a disruptive pupil, with little or no respect for any of his teachers.  It is also alleged that he took pleasure in provoking and goading Mr Harvey (who had only recently returned to work following a bout of stress related illness) with a view of trying to “push him over the edge.”

Well, Jack was successful in his goal and while he was admitted to hospital with bleeding on the brain, Peter Harvey was taken into custody and was charged with attempted murder.

Fast forward 9 months and Peter Harvey went to trial.  However, during Peter Harvey’s hearing, all of the details surrounding the disruptive nature of Jack (and his fellow class mates) were taken into account and the Judge found him not guilty of attempted murder (sentencing is to follow shortly).

Whilst I am not condoning the actions of Peter Harvey, nor am I encouraging this type of behaviour – I am very surprised that there haven’t been more incidences such as these.

Pupils nowadays have no respect for adults.  Why?  Because all powers to control children have been taken away.   Schools are no longer able to cane or slipper children for misbehaving in classes.  Even parents are struggling to control their own children for fear of being accused of assault or child abuse. 
So why are teachers expected to succeed in disciplining children with words alone, when parents cannot?

So what can be done to prevent such an incident occurring again and to help support our teachers in such a difficult and stressful scenario?

Well one solution could be the use of subliminal hypnosis.

If subliminal hypnosis was piped through classrooms, whispering unheard positive affirmations to both the teachers and pupils (such as you will feel calm, you will stay attentive, you will keep focussed, you will stay quiet, you will learn etc) this could be of great benefit and ensure that the classroom remains a safe environment.

The positive influence would help teachers to be less stressed, would help keep the classroom under control and would help pupils to learn more by keeping them focussed on the lesson, rather than disrupting it.  Other benefits could be that children improve their learning skills and overall final examinations results, offering them better opportunities to further their education or career once leaving school.

Whilst some may deem this a form of “brain washing”, I strongly believe that this could be a positive solution to an extremely difficult situation, and help to protect both teachers and pupils alike.