Disagreements

Disagreements

     Daily I disagree with students in regards to how they disrespect their teachers. Students try to explain to me why it is alright to argue back at a teacher, be rude and disrespectful to their teachers, use profanity or harsh words and sometimes threaten their teachers. Regardless to how upset these students are with their teachers I try to hear them out and then offer some good sound advice. I have stated in the past that I am old school and regardless to what the teacher said under no circumstance were we allowed as we were told to talk back.

     The biggest disagreement that I have with the students is that no one listens to them and everyone believes the teacher. It’s hard to explain to a student that you are not saying the teacher is always right but what I am saying is that you have no right to be disrespectful. My instruction to them is if there is a problem go home and tell your parents, they are the adults and let them handle the situation.

     Big mistake, the student’s remarks to me is if I tell my mom or dad they will come out to the school and curse the teacher out and then the teacher will really be mad. So the students prefer not to tell their parents for fear of their parents making matters worse. This puts me right back where I started at telling the students if they will not tell their parents then they must be responsible enough not to try to handle adult situations themselves.

     Trying to explain to them that being disrespectful will not help their situation and it will only make matters worse. Usually after talking to them for a while the student usually calms down and I am able to talk to them and reason with them. My ultimate goal usually is to  bring the student and teacher together to talk about the situation. Prior to the meeting I ask the student to apologize to the teacher for being disrespectful. Most of the time they feel that they do not owe the teacher an apology but the teacher owes them an apology. My answer to them is you are not apologizing for what they have done to you but you are apologizing for being disrespectful.

     After the student is willing to apologize I bring the teacher and student together. I introduce the two to each other as if it were the first day of school. This sets the tone for a new beginning for both the teacher and the student. They shake hands, the student apologizes and often the teacher apologizes and states that they are sorry if they have caused any hurt.  This approach sometimes does not work but I am thankful for all the times that it has worked and teachers like the idea of starting all over and giving it another try.