Times Have Changed in First Grade!

Back when I was in elementary school, I had a teacher who, as part of her standard toolkit of punishments, put masking tape over the mouths of kids who couldn't stop talking. I can't recall anybody thinking it was terribly inappropriate, and our parents at the time probably thought it was a good alternative to spanking.

Fast-forward 40-odd years. A Terre Haute, Indiana elementary school substitute teacher has been fired for taping the mouths of six of her first-grade students. She said it was just a joke, but parents and the school district weren't laughing.

Come to think of it, my first-grade teacher took it pretty seriously too...

Source: WTHI-TV