Teacher Punishes Whole Class

Question:

I am a parent of a 5th grader. There are 30 students in this classroom and the teacher is having a lot of difficulty controlling them. He has resorted to punishing the whole class because several of the students are “misbehaving”. My son has not been the cause of this teacher’s frustration but has been the recipient of his wrath. I have written to the teacher to inform him of my disapproval of this method and also have spoken with the principal. I have not yet heard from the teacher. I think that the principal does not want to rock the boat and would rather that the complaint be handled by myself. He has asked me to write a letter to the teacher, which I have. The teacher is very old school and has been around for very long. He is impatient with his very large class (30 students) and has also resorted to saying disrespectful to them (for example comparing them to 2nd graders). My son is suffering and I feel that this environment is not at all conducive to his positive growth and education. What can you do to help me?