Teenagers are animals. I am so sick of teenagers that I will need to see serious maturity levels from my own children to keep from sending them to boarding school at age 13. I am more and more disgusted by their behavior, language, motivations and priorities. I am so sick of seeing them lick each other's faces, and hearing their mindless, disrespectful conversations, that by the end of my time at SHS, I wanted to walk the halls with a cattle prod.
It makes sense to me; I know why they are the way that they are, but I still can't stand the vast majority of them. Individually each student can be great to know, and converse with. But, when as a pack in general, they are intolerable.
I know I too was once a teenager, but I could not have been nearly as bad as these teens. Yes, I drank. Yes, I smoked a cig here and there. Yes, I broke rules. But the main difference between myself and teens today lies in one word: Respect. Not to say that there were not disrespectful shithead teens that I grew up with, indeed there were. The rampant level of disrespect today is absurd though. Teens have respect for nothing: Rules, authority, property, relationships, friendships, or even themselves. When I was a teenager, I might have had angst, but I still had respect. There were teachers that I did not like, but I did not curse in their faces, and charge out of rooms. When adults working in a high school are afraid to tell students what kind of car that they drive, for fear of it being vandalized, there is a problem with the student populous. The students file into school in the morning, with their empty heads hung low. They are not 3,000 eager and willing minds, but inmates.
Part of me wants to kick every student with the cancerous attitude described out of school. Let them take their disrespectful attitudes and see where it will get them in life. I would like to see some of these students fail miserably. However, as an adult and and educator you have to act on the, "forgive them, for they know not what they do" mentality. Though some days I want to simply scream, "You're an ignorant f#%&*ng loser with no future!" into their faces, I don't. Being an educator doesn't just mean teaching young students facts and theories, but how to be a useful member of society. That starts with Respect.
Good insights Mr. E, but I do feel you seem to be a bit jaded towards the integrity of the students. As a former 2 yr substitute for a suburban district identical to yours, I would go as far as to say that about 60-75% majority of the working staff shared your exact sentiments. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've heard this blog word for word several different times in the teachers lounge over the years.
ReplyDeleteBut I did not belong to that majority group. I found that generally the best teachers (performance wise) also belonged to that minority group, and instead of treating them like they were misterable pieces of shit, they gave them the benefit of the doubt and would try -and mostly succeed- in bringing out the best of the kids in order to create a most conducive learning environment. And of course, there are always going to be a few wise-ass little fuckers..and you just have to say to yourself 'fuck them'. make them sit in the hall, or whatever. just remove them from the positive environment.
positive vibes braaah.
I must also say that when I was teaching I would think the same things laid out here to myself and would make the same rambles to my friends, etc. The trick was to remove those biases once you got to work..and of course play plenty of Heads up 7 up.