Reason First: What Does a Lost Tooth Have to do with Miseducation?

Aren’t teachers supposed to instruct students, not cause them to lose teeth, allegedly? A Florida woman who claims to be a teacher is embroiled in a fall out over one of her student’s teeth being forced out of his mouth. She has been released on $3,000 bond. But the story remains a mystery as to how the piece of dental makeup dropped from the young man’s mouth. The teacher, Cynthia Smith, 64, claims that a ruckus that occurred in the hallway involving other students (not her) lead to the dental loss.

On her record, Smith has reportedly been cited for aggressive behavior on four different accounts. What this points to is a woman who is approaching retirement who has lost all control and will over her actions. Whatever she felt like she was doing she apparently did. Her feelings clouded her better judgment and she went on the offensive and allegedly displaced a kid’s tooth. Is it something in the water in Florida that such bizarre and utterly weird stories emanate from that state? Doubts remain high. It’s largely due to individual actions rather than a culture of strange and ridiculous happenings.

Smith must now face the possibility of doing time because of what she supposedly did. For someone with her track record, it appears that she may face justice for her inability to maintain composure and do no harm to her students. Instead, she will most likely go before a judge and have him or her decide whether Smith committed child abuse with great bodily harm.

So what does this say about government education? Are teachers so low on morale due to decreased wages and mistreatment by upper management that they must allegedly lash out at the children under their care? Would this have happened at a private school? The answer is likely that it would not have happened in not only a private institution of learning, but in a full, free, laissez-faire capitalist society. Smith would’ve been able to handle the young children and not have reportedly caused the tooth to go flying from a young boy’s mouth.

With federal, state, and local funding of education, it may seem impossible that a private solution would lower or even eliminate stories like this. But it is possible.

If Smith had any understanding of the proper ways to handle a situation rather than by allegedly using force, then she wouldn’t have been in a position to give such a gruesome mugshot. She appears tired, run-down, and listless in the photograph. All of her years of educating, sadly, will be associated with this case no matter what she may do with the rest of her career and retirement. Forever marred by even the accusation, Smith will have to accept the facts of reality or become like a hunk of flesh buffeted by the truth of her boorish behavior. Whatever may happen to Smith, she may want to relocate from the 27th state in the Union. She could use whatever funds she may have saved and escape to Hawai’i if she is found not guilty of her crime. But if she is discovered to be responsible, she should get no special treatment and be shown as an example of how poorly government schools function. If she did in fact abuse this young man, it is imperative that the state of Florida completely lock down her finances and lock her up with speed.

How would one solve a problem like this? The president on down would have to implement measures that would take the government out of education. The focus on test scores rather than whether these children can actually think has been so warped and unclear that it is difficult to see what a free education would be like. Smith wouldn’t have to allegedly abuse children. Her dedication to her craft would prevent her from engaging in such behavior. The children would earn high marks based on a quality system geared towards their achievement, not their damaged dental setup.

What Smith and other teachers who have been on the wrong side of the law for whatever reason can hope for is, if found guilty, that other malfunctioning sector of the government: prison. But Smith most likely will be hit with a fine, be forced into early retirement and required to perform community service. Maybe she’ll find a position where she could save teeth rather than have them knocked out of a child’s mouth (allegedly).