Adults sometimes do this. You think you know their tolerance level, what sets them off, and exactly when it will. You know when to back off, or when, if you don’t, you will get what’s coming to you. And these unspoken boundaries, which vary from adult to adult, are comforting. They establish the you you are when you’re with them. But sometimes, unpredictably, they snap. They target an unassuming student—not even the known troublemaker—and punish them viciously, publicly, scaring everyone else into silence.
