New Zealand media reported yesterday (10th) that a high school teacher in New Zealand pulled out a student's earphones while listening to music in class and resigned after abuse of power.



The incident occurred in October 2019 when Greg Robinson, 72, an alternative mathematics teacher at Mount Maunganui College in Tauranga, North Island, pulled an earphone from a student's ear while listening to music on a cell phone, local media Stuff reported.



According to reports, Robinson instructed two sophomores at the school to stop when a student tapped a desk while listening to music while sharing earphones in class, but the student did not listen.



Robinson tried to steal the phone, but when it didn't go his way, he pulled out the earphones from the student's ears.



However, in the process, the earphone broke, and the student got up and started an argument with the teacher.



Angry, Teacher Robinson went out of the classroom and sent another teacher in.



Accordingly, the school principal issued an incident report that must be submitted to the Teachers' Council, and based on the investigation by the investigator, the Teachers' Council's grievance committee was responsible for disconnecting the earphones from the students' ears and failing to properly deal with the situation after the incident. It was concluded that Robinson had it.



Based on this, the Teacher Disciplinary Committee concluded that teacher Robinson's sudden and unwarranted removal of earphones constituted a grave abuse of power. He pointed out that it could damage the reputation of the profession as a teacher.



Robinson was reprimanded and his replacement teacher employment terms were changed to two years.



Robinson was dissatisfied with the disciplinary committee's decision and went to court, but when the district court upheld the disciplinary committee's hand, it went all the way to an appeals court.



However, the appeals court recently dismissed Robinson's appeal without merit.



Robinson said the case was absolutely absurd, and he said so far he's spent $55,000 (about $45 million) in court costs and other things, and could get as much as $20,000 more in the future.



He said his attempt to take the phone may have been misguided, "I just did my best to correct the most rude behavior I've seen in my 40 years as a teacher."



He continued, "It's the worst experience I've ever had to be disciplined for a serious abuse of power. The decision to abuse my power is acceptable, but it's not a serious abuse of power.



Robinson retired from teaching after 40 years of service as his teaching registration was expunged last week.