I don't know why you think that I am softening my stance. I went from my praise for TA's compassionate approach to almost fully supporting his assault in this discussion. Anyway I am now drunk (it is bank holiday here in UK) so out of respect to you and myself I will try to wind up this discussion. My views may be little bit skewed because I grew up in communist Poland, where teacher represented the real authority. It was unthinkable to even consider assaulting the teacher. We and my friends were plotting attacks on milicja (the communist police) but doing something real against even most hated teacher was unthinkable. I don't know... maybe it is simply cultural difference? For me it is unthinkable to attack the teacher. Teachers are held in highest respect in Eastern European countries. So probably that is why I think the threshold is higher.