My daddy will whup your ass, the child is reported to have told the teacher who told the other teacher who told me. The child in this report seems to have been attempting to coerce subservient behavior from the teacher through a threat of physical abuse by proxy. Personally, I am moderately distressed that the child may have such a limited repertoire of relationship skills as to propose this one. The second teacher categorized the limited relationship in different terms, categorizing the child's proposal as "lack of respect". This second teacher suggested the threat of spanking the child might be a technique leading to a resolution of the situation. The teacher, that is, proposes attempting to coerce subservient behavior from the student through a counterthreat of physical abuse. I am moderately distressed that a teacher may have such a limited repertoire of relationship skills as to propose the same technique.
Coercing subservient behavior through threats of physical abuse by proxy is a known technique for playing the actual reality game. My own experience suggests that it is not among the more effective techniques. (I would be interested to see a scientific study comparing the effectiveness of this approach to various alternatives.)
I am more certain that attempting to coerce subservient behavior through threats of physical abuse through proxy is largely ineffective when applied by a player who is weaker both personally and in terms of the player's command of powerful proxies. In the case of the student, the child's parent is unlikely to accept the role of proxy in physically abusing the teacher, a reality of which the child is likely aware. The student's threat is not a particularly plausible one. Were the parent to accept the proxy role, the teacher would then have recourse to more powerful proxies in the police, the courts, and the correctional system.
These proxies would be effective in coercing subservient behavior from someone who had physically abused the teacher or had directly threatened physical abuse, but they are not available to the teacher to employ as a proxy threat to coerce subservient behavior from a student.
I say that there are likely more effective techniques to coerce subservient behavior than threats of physical violence by proxy. But I ask, is coercing subservient behavior either necessary or prudent? Is subservience helpful in playing the game, whether it is coerced or not?