Lol TK421 got paddled!
I rarely got my cube taken away in high school, mostly because I wouldn't let them do it (not trying to set the example here, just stating). I had a real problem with certain types of authority. If I actually respected the teacher, though it'd be a daily thing usually, they knew all they had to do was ask me to put it away and I'd be done (it's just I know most of you can agree here, it's pretty addicting especially when you first get into it, so you often don't think about how often you've been told to put it away). Even though the teachers saw it every day for many months, they knew I was more than willing to put it away when I was asked.
College was a different story. Two of my coolest teachers didn't mind if I brought it to class, as long as I didn't do it during class (during breaks would have been fine, I had a few 2 and 3 hour classes). One day we were talking about a subject I already knew fairly well, so the lack of new information bored me, so I start cubing. He took my cube away, at the end of class gave it back and said "Next time you won't see it again, understood?" (though with light smile) and that got the message quite clear.
I think most of this boils down to the student and teachers respecting each other, and unfortunately in the public education system (around here, at least) you often see teachers be equally hard-nosed to all students just because a few bad ones got in their way (it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the bunch, or however the saying goes).
