New Chair to Curb Classroom Dangers/Class Clowns

Though Fat Joe is still telling us to "Lean Back" (or is he? that song is so 2004), 7,000 British students fall off their chairs and end up in the hospital each year by leaning back a bit too far. One teacher at a school in Blackheath, Tom Wates, decided to do something about the problem, though he seems more annoyed at the kids disrupting his lessons than concerned about their safety:

"The reason I went into it was because of the irritation of children leaning back," said Mr Wates who gave up teaching in July 2007.

"You would get into the flow of the lesson, the kid would fall off the chair, everyone would laugh and you would have to start again," the former maths and PE teacher said.

So Mr. W designed a tip-resistant chair, dubbed the "Max Chair," with curved legs, which make it virtually impossible to lean the chair back more than a few centimeters. It also provides lower back support to force students to sit up straight. He seems to have developed a winner -- 18 schools have already placed orders for 1,500 chairs.

Maybe he'll return to teaching now the pesky kids won't be falling over backward. They'll just be in prime spit-ball position.

Image courtesy of Time Caynes' Flickrstream