ABSTRACT
Teachers act differently from 'normal adults' because normal adults do not have to deal with kids in the circumstances in which teachers work. Discipline is a guarantee that the kids will be kept at work, not allowed to slacken off, and will therefore maximise their chances of access to university via the certifying public exams. Discipline is a guarantee that the kids will show due respect for adults, will not turn into juvenile delinquents, will not talk an unintelligible dialect, will not wear outrageous clothes, or dye their hair, or listen only to the music of raucous and ill-mannered rock stars. In particular it takes the form of the teacher taking responsibility for the kids' learning. Emotional involvement with the kids’ success in learning is hard to avoid. It is part of caring for kids, which is an important thing with teachers.
