Thought I'd post this comment from Sam -- thanks for your valuable input!

Taken from a recent issue of Fortune magazine:

"Consider the following four dead-end kids.

One was spanked by his teachers for bad grades and a poor attitude. He dropped out of school at 16. Another failed remedial English and came perilously close to flunking out of college. The third feared he'd never make it through school--and might not have without a tutor. The last finally learned to read in third grade, devouring Marvel comics, whose pictures provided clues to help him untangle the words.

These four losers are, respectively, Richard Branson, Charles Schwab, John Chambers, and David Boies. Billionaire Branson developed one of Britain's top brands with Virgin Records and Virgin Atlantic Airways. Schwab virtually created the discount brokerage business. Chambers is CEO of Cisco. Boies is a celebrated trial attorney, best known as the guy who beat Microsoft."

Link available here.

Sam: "I think this goes to show (in some small measure) that notwithstanding the words and actions of negative persons (be they parents, teachers, friends, colleagues or superiors), we all have a chance to make our dreams come true."

His points about teachers needing support from their superiors and the Ministry of Education in order to devote more time and attention to "problematic students" ( who may be harbouring underlying social problems rather than deliberately being disobedient ) is an important issue that should be addressed. With the expansion of class sizes, numerous additional courses and the introduction of more technologically advanced methods of conducting lessons, teachers have their hands full, and it's not uncommon for kids to get lost in the system. Who knows, the added stress could cause the occasional educator to lose his/her cool from time to time.
Looks like the educational system needs some "evolution" of its own.