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With nearly one-point-five million Youtube views, a tough-as-nails high school instructor has become something of a celebrity. Jim O’Connor, who teaches advanced math classes at St. Francis High School in Southern California, demands respect, and seems to get it in spades. “If you have a class full of 32 teenage boys, you better have some discipline,” O’Connor said. “If you don’t have control of the class, you don’t have a learning environment.” “Everybody thinks he’s being really mean” until they get used to his teaching style,” said one student.

OK. We get it. He’s tough. But what’s so special about this teacher? When Mr. O’Connor’s students at St. Francis High School learned where their strict teacher spends his free-time, their respect for him multiplied — exponentially. O’Connor, who is a Viet Nam vet surprised his students when they learned that Mr. Tough-Guy’s nickname at the hospital where he volunteers is “the baby whisperer.” You see, although his students find him anything but cuddly, Mr. O’Connor’s…