Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe BAN ON TEACHER YELLING Teachers have been banned from shouting to control rowdy pupils in Scottish classrooms, the Daily Record reports, but some teachers and politicians consider the ban a disgrace. Advertisement Education officials are defending the policy, insisting it could boost standards of behavior among pupils. The Edinburgh City Council approved the new guidelines after a report revealed more than a third of complaints to a mediation service were linked to the attitude of school staff. But one teacher says the "no yell" policy could encourage people to quit the profession. "Ideally, we prefer not to shout but there are times when you have to, and if we're going to have disciplinary procedures against us for shouting, a lot will leave," she said. Nick Seaton, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, said, "Teachers have to shout at times to keep discipline and no one should get uptight about that." Advertisement 'JUST DO IT' MANAGEMENT STYLE When it comes to being a manager, there is a big gap between how managers think they should best do a job and how it gets actually gets done. Managers say they love to carefully think through strategies before acting, make long-term plans, canvass employees' opinions and give encouragement when targets are achieved. But in the real world, they are more likely to make fast decisions without all the facts, rush through tasks with a short-term focus and provide feedback only when problems arise, according to researchers at the Sydney Graduate School of Management in Australia. David Lamond's findings show a large discrepancy between preferred and actual styles, particularly in planning and evaluation. "People want to be longer-term strategic planners and have a vision for the organization as a whole, but what they find on a day-to-day basis is they have to follow the Nike dictum of 'just do it.'" Lamond says. On average, bosses said that how they performed in reality was the opposite to the way they would like to operate in about one-third of the situations. MAN SENDS GUN TO HIMSELF A man accused of trying to mail a loaded rifle, a handgun and fireworks from Nevada to Alaska has turned himself in, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. Police did not reveal his name. He faces two federal felony charges. Advertisement "He broke the first cardinal rule of firearms safety -- always treat a weapon as if it is loaded," said Jeff Scobba, a spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Seattle office. The man told postal inspectors that he failed to check the chamber of the .30-06 rifle before breaking it down and packaging it. When the package made its way to the U.S. Postal Service's priority mail hub in Kent, Wash., on June 18, the rifle went off, shooting a round into a metal shipping container. No one was hurt. The man addressed the package to himself, in care of Wild West Guns, a store in Anchorage, Alaska. The sender told postal officials he had planned to hunt, fish and look for work in Alaska. Only gun dealers, law enforcement or military agents can send weapons in the U.S. mail, and even then, a weapon must be declared and must never be loaded.
