Huang Shixiu's Perspective: Discipline Could Lead to Blindness—Who Would Dare to Be a Teacher These Days?

A special education student in Taichung was reminded to return to his seat during class, but instead broke a broomstick and used the sharp broken end to directly stab a female teacher, putting her at risk of blindness. I myself am autistic (Asperger’s), but was only diagnosed in adulthood and did not receive special education. In recent years, through various circumstances, I’ve met parents of children with hidden disabilities and have come to understand how truly difficult life is for special education students. Special education assessments include various categories such as autism, emotional disturbance, learning disabilities, and developmental delays. Children with poor impulse control often experience intense emotional outbursts and are prone to physical confrontations. In practice, medications used to treat ADHD—such as Ritalin and Concerta—can help improve these behaviors. Generally, a student is only classified as having an emotional disturbance after consistent medication and tiered counseling show limited effectiveness over time. Therefore, those who qualify are typically in severe condition, at minimum exhibiting clear maladjustment. However, the most fatal blind spot in the current system is that placement evaluations based primarily on “intelligence and self-care ability” have completely replaced the “physical violence risk” that teachers on the ground must endure. 1. Emotional Disturbance and Impulse Control Are Not the Same Be frank: I only recognize one true form of “uncontrollable”—a rabid dog that would recklessly attack even if faced with armed gangsters. As a child, I was also uncontrollable when angry—biting anyone in sight, regardless of age. My grandfather, a retired elementary school teacher, set clear rules and punishments. Though I often got beaten, I accepted it inwardly and gradually stabilized. I’m not advocating for corporal punishment, but emphasizing the importance of strict discipline. Schools must be “de-authoritarianized,” but teachers must still possess basic “authority.” Without respect for teachers, how can education function? Today’s political correctness, under the banner of “humanism,” elevates individual students’ right to education above all else, while trampling teachers’ working conditions underfoot. Teachers have been stripped of all disciplinary tools, left defenseless, yet are coerced by the system to safeguard the lives of all students in class. 2. Power Vacuum and Regression to the State of Nature Human nature inherently includes impulsive and deviant tendencies. The key isn’t explaining why people lose control, but rather “why most people remain obedient and orderly.” Schools are essentially institutions of social discipline. Historically, they shaped compliant bodies through spatial division and micro-punishments, and used medical diagnoses to identify “abnormal” individuals for isolation or special handling. From a macro perspective, humans are collective beings. Since tribal times, dangerous individuals have been restrained by rules or force to ensure group survival. In modern states, people have surrendered their “right to use private violence” to the state—via police, military, and judicial systems—in exchange for public safety. However, under the trend of de-authoritarianization and human rights protection, schools have been stripped of classical disciplinary methods but have not received new safety equipment or defensive authority. When soft disciplinary methods like verbal communication fail for extreme cases, schools face a deadly power vacuum. When students realize that “attacking teachers won’t lead to immediate or severe consequences,” the social control mechanism collapses. Schools regress into a state of nature where individuals must bear violence risks alone—the next step being “war of all against all.” 3. Selective Outbursts and Structural Strain Most emotionally disturbed cases fall into a gray zone between total loss of control and selective emotional release. The brain still has an instinctive avoidance response to extreme danger just before emotional collapse. When faced with a strong, immediate threat capable of suppressing them, their alert system inhibits impulses. Conversely, in environments with high perceived safety—such as regular classrooms with gentle teachers who are not expected to retaliate strongly—their defenses relax, making triggers easy to ignite. This isn’t faking disability; rather, their emotional outbursts are highly dependent on environmental safety. The focus should never be debating “whether the disability is real.” As long as dangerous aggressive behavior occurs, the system must immediately activate defense and isolation. Today’s push for high standards like “zero rejection” and “inclusive education” lacks equivalent means and resources (e.g., protective gear, authority for physical restraint, dedicated personnel), creating a sociological “structural strain.” Frontline teachers are expected to possess bomb-disposal-level precision like special education experts, but without resources or safety authorization, this is merely empty rhetoric—forcing teachers to become sacrificial victims of systemic failure. 4. Recommendations: Macro-Level Enforcement and Micro-Level Response Schools must no longer rely on individual teachers’ heroism. Instead, they must establish cross-professional collective situational awareness and real-time response SOPs. Legal and Institutional Level: Authorize schools to initiate emergency transfers of students exhibiting weapon use or extreme violence (after failed counseling) to isolated safe spaces, without this being considered a violation of “zero rejection.” Extreme cases should be reviewed by an independent committee comprising education, health, and medical professionals, who can mandate medical intervention or transfer to centralized special education institutions. The Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Education should clearly define legal immunity for teachers using physical restraints or protective equipment against immediate violence. Resource rooms and specialized classrooms should be equipped with cut-resistant gloves, impact shields, capture tools, and isolation rooms. Abolish the convention of police avoiding school campuses; in cases of severe violence, authorities should have the right to dispatch police for immediate arrest. Special education aides should be upgraded to high-salary professional positions with defensive training, ensuring one-on-one accompaniment for high-risk students. Establish a central legal fund to cover litigation costs for teachers filing lawsuits due to work-related incidents. Implementation and Operational Level: Interventions must manage the “antecedent–behavior–consequence” chain. During calm periods (green zone), provide abundant positive reinforcement. If concern is only shown or tasks are allowed to be avoided during agitation (yellow zone), it creates “erroneous reinforcement,” teaching individuals to use violence to obtain resources. Schools should establish subtle “early warning detection” mechanisms for preemptive intervention. When emotions peak (red zone), the brain’s rational evaluation shuts down completely. Any verbal persuasion will be interpreted as a threat and escalate aggression. Expecting verbal de-escalation at this point is pure fantasy. The only options are “withdrawing from the scene” and “clearing the area,” relying on physical equipment and isolation for survival. On-site personnel must have direct authority—without hierarchical reporting—to immediately initiate evacuation and request police or fire department assistance. Conclusion: When a special education student enters the non-communicative red zone, language becomes useless. The system must provide cold but solid physical enforcement, while in normal times, rely on fine emotional regulation and environmental shaping. Only by simultaneously implementing systemic “macro-level enforcement and isolation” and on-site “micro-level behavioral prevention” can we fill the power vacuum and prevent the complete collapse of the school safety contract. *The author is a former strategy consultant, current affairs commentator, and spokesperson, now a full-time trader.