A video of a substitute teacher breaking up a classroom fight has been making waves on social media the past few days. The incident happened in May of 2015, but seems to be sparking discussion about classroom discipline, manners and what is acceptable response to foolishness in schools.

Prince George county in Maryland is where this incident happened at Gwynn Park Middle School. The substitute school teacher was caught on camera whooping students who were fighting on the floor in the classroom. The video gives no context on why the fight broke out, but the teacher sprung into action with his belt.

The teacher was promptly fired for his reaction to the children fighting. The school spoke sternly about this behavior not being acceptable policy from any teachers or substitutes.

However, there has been mixed reaction to the belt swinging teacher:

“What the teacher did went over the line with what he was paid to do,” said one parent waiting for his child to get out of class Monday afternoon. “There was another way he could have handled that.”

“He didn’t do anything other than discipline some knuckleheads,” said Paul Wheeler in a Facebook message. “This needs to happen more at home.”
“Those kids need more of this at home,” messaged Dwayne Carey. “That’s the problem with society.

“That was out of order for sure,” said a grandmother waiting for a student at the school. “It’s awful.”

“I agree,” said Donna Knight on Facebook. “It would have been awful if the teacher didn’t break it up.”
Of the minority commenting against the teachers actions online, many are parents at the school.

“I don’t agree with any teacher hitting a student no matter the circumstance,” commented mother Denise Townsend on Facebook. “He could have found another way of breaking up the confrontation between the two students.”

“Beating students?” said Facebook fan Swan Johnson. “They’re not his kids. He was out of line.”

SOUND OFF: Do you think the teacher was right or wrong in this situation? Why?