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We can almost, kind of, maybe a little bit, understand why some teachers get angry enough to hit their students. When thinking about high school, there are enough cringe-worthy moments of complete jerkery where one wouldn’t blame a teacher for reaching out and slapping certain students across the mouth.

That’s not to say that such behavior is acceptable, of course! Only that, in some cases, maybe we can kind of get how infuriating students can be.

This is not one of those cases.

On Wednesday, August 21, a male instructor from Sanmushi Middle School in Chiba Prefecture was officially punished by the Board of Education after physically abusing one of his students.

It seems that the teacher, upon arriving at little late for a meeting for the school’s athletic festival, commented, “Sorry to keep you waiting.” The student, a third year middle school student, responded flippantly, blurting out, “Whatever. It’s nothing,” in a condescending way.

The teacher became enraged, grabbed the student by his lapels, and slammed him against the wall four or five times. The student ended up with a sprained cervical vertebrae and cuts on the inside of his mouth as a result of the violet abuse.

The teacher explained his actions by saying that when he heard the student’s comment, he simply forgot himself. We’re not quite sure how that counts as an explanation.

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So, what was the teacher’s punishment? You’re probably imagining that he was fired, thrown in jail for child abuse, or ran out of town by angry parents.

Well, if so, you would be wrong. In actuality, one-tenth of the teacher’s pay has been garnished and…that’s it.

Japanese Internet users were mostly shocked by the situation.

That teacher’s simply insane.

“Middle school student”… Those are magic words for causing limitless irritation.

It’s fine to get angry, but not to cause injury!

There are no REAL teachers in Japan.

What century is this??

Let’s beat this teacher. This isn’t corporal punishment but pure physical assault. Mentally unfit people shouldn’t be teachers.

If you can’t ignore some stuff, you shouldn’t be a teacher!

While this is a pretty shocking case, it’s not exactly unique. Last year, an Osaka high school basketball player committed suicide after receiving corporal punishment at the hands of his teacher, and the Japanese women’s Olympic judo team was in the news after it was revealed that their coach had been hitting team members.

Obviously, Japan is hardly the only country dealing with the issue of corporal punishment, but it doesn’t reduce the shock, does it?

Sources: Yomiuri Online, Hachima Kikou
Images: Sanmushi Middle School, Hachima Kikou