A rant about teaching and violence

I’m stunned at these comments in these Facebook threads. Just stunned. The 40 year old who loses control and beats up a teen is somehow the victim in all of this…Really?

Sure, we can broaden the conversation about how stressful it is to be a teacher these days. I get it, there are students that want to push your buttons and be one step over the lines you draw. (These are important topics to discuss but hardly the reaction when a teacher physically assaults a student.

But “back in my day…”. Stop it. Go back one more generation and we were segregating who could use the drinking fountain based on their skin color. Another favorite, “and we turned out just fine.” Reality check: We are the most in debt, most obese, most heavily medicated and most unhappy adult cohort in human history. And the planet is being destroyed.

This hits home since we work with so many students that have been labeled by administrations/faculty as “bad kids.” I just don’t believe it.

Labels are a dangerous thing to put on youth. What is doesn’t always have to be. And what I find is that adults are quick to label youth because of how it makes them feel. They feel better that they can’t actually parent/teach their kids.

We are products of our own environment AND the environment is a product of us. Why do we create so many “disrespectful” students these days (as some put it)? It so easy to blame character. Why don’t we instead build a better system? What is school for? Maybe we don’t need to train students to be a cog in a machine.

We can make things better by making better things.

/rant