It is never acceptable to insult students, at least in a school setting. This was reiterated by the Supreme Court, which agreed with the headmaster of the "Alberto Baggi" technical institute in Sassuolo (Modena), upholding the disciplinary sanction imposed on a professor who had called a student a "jerk". The teacher, who was sanctioned with a formal reprimand in 2019, had challenged the measure before the Civil Court of Modena, then in Appeals in Bologna, and finally in the Supreme Court. In all three levels of court, however, the sanction was found to be proportionate and legitimate. According to the Supreme Court judges, in fact, the school principal's reaction was “appropriate to the behavior” of the teacher, who in the course of the trial even admitted to having addressed the insult to the student. The Court of Appeals had already clarified that the use of offensive expressions violates the duties proper to the teaching function, and that censure is among the sanctions provided for such conduct.