I am so sorry that this has happened to your son. What a horrible thing for such a person to be teaching! I'm relieved to know that you guys are out of that school, and the teacher is out of there, too.
By the way, I do know a teacher (in a previous school that DS went to) who did something similar though not nearly as bad: she asked a girl to poke the boy next to her when his mind started wandering...
The lesson is an important one to everyone, I think. Kids want to trust their teachers, and it's hard for many of them to realize that sometimes it's the teacher who is wrong. I have always tried to instill in my kids that adults do make mistakes, and it's OK to challenge adults. But I still sometimes see my kids getting very confused when the teacher is clearly in the wrong. This was very obvious last year when DS's teacher was so unreasonable. I think parents should really make sure that we are on top of things. Last year when DS got in trouble with the teacher, first I believed what the teacher told me, then I got suspiscious so I started going to the classroom to observe, I talked to other parents, and eventually I just knew it was the teacher's problem. That made things a lot easier for DS because he could discuss with me about how to cope.
In terms of "bullies are not always kids", well, have any of you been bullied by the parents of other kids? I've heard some very nasty comments made by parents toward gifted kids and their parents. Bullies are bullies, no age restriction.
