Ridicule

A multiply efficacious treatment in its reinforcement both of student deference before teacher authority and of teacher confidence before student abjection, its consolidation and directionalization of peer pressure as a channel of authoritarian control, and its cathartic release of pedagogical tensions.

To apply, simply indicate calm superiority over student target through a slight supercilious smile and a humorous rolling of the eyes, as if enlisting the other students in the class in your amusement at this hopeless case; then utter some brief remark designed to goad the other students into laughter at the target, preferably in regard to the target's failure to behave in a manner appropriate to a college classroom. Examples: "Bring the wrong book to class with us today, did we, John?" "Shall I bring a mattress to class with me tomorrow?" "Do I see a head on your shoulders, or is that just something you found in the produce section?"

Back to Supplemental treatments contents.