Teacher Quiets Rowdy Class by Threatening to Spoil Game of Thrones, Is an Education Pioneer

Spoiler alert! Detention has met its match.
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If you’ve ever been a teacher, you know that keeping a group of wild, rabid animals children calm and focused can be challenging. Because of things like “feelings” and “right and wrong,” you can’t really do a whole lot to make kids listen, so your threats are mostly idle. So, one innovative educator turned to spoilers for help.

A math teacher in Belgium who was unhappy with his class threatened them with spoilers from Game of Thrones if they wouldn’t quiet down. Now that’s some 21st century education technique. Sure, my teacher could take away my Matchbox cars and put them in the “June Box” (things you’d get back in June), but she couldn’t take anything from me that I could never get back.

Not so with spoilers, though. Did you want to be surprised by who died, when they died, and how they died in your favorite show? Too bad, Belgium’s greatest educational maverick will forever strip you of your ability to fully enjoy it. Banking on the fact that the students would probably rather watch the show than read the books, he asked his students which of them watched, and a majority of them raised their hands.

Then, he told them, “Well, I’ve read all the books. If there is too much noise, I will write the names of the dead on the board. [The dead] are enough to fill the whole year and I can even describe how they die.” The naive, sweet summer children took it as yet another empty threat from a teacher, so he began writing the names of those killed off in upcoming episodes on the board.

It apparently worked, as the story spread on social media and according to The Telegraph, one student commented, “My maths teacher is a genius.” He is indeed, child. Teachers can’t lay a hand on kids anymore? So what.

Now they can slowly suck the joy out of their lives instead.

(The Telegraph via Jezebel and The Mary Sue, image via Game of Thrones)

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Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.