Hugh Reilly - Why the Hulk and Bigfoot are on the city school roll

AS A young, naïve teacher, I used to take personal abuse from malcontented pupils, er, personally. I'd explode with anger and, while I stopped short of ripping my shirt from my back, I did do a passable impression of the Incredible Teaching Hulk.

Don't get me wrong – in odd moments, I still give a disruptive kid the hairdryer treatment but, for the most part, I've learned to let go. When an excitable young man starts venting his spleen, I become Buddha on a banana leaf floating down the rive...