I work in a school in which students think that it’s not a big deal for them to slap each other in the face. Emmanuel, the student I wrote about yesterday, and India were standing just outside my door. At one point Emmanuel said, again, “These nuts.” And India slapped him on the face. Not too hard, but not too soft either. She proceeded to try and defend herself, saying they were joking around, did you hear what he said, and it wasn’t even that hard. Excuses. After excuses. I’m tired of it. So what was I supposed to do? Pretend it never happened? Let it go? I cannot. I need to make sure sin does not go unpunished first off for the sake of justice, and secondly, she needs to learn that that’s no excuse for slapping her friend on the face.
I work in a school in which the administrators try to make excuses for the kids who don’t think it’s a big deal to slap each other in the face. Ms. Rago noticed that India was standing outside, so she came by as she sometimes does to check to see what was going on. She apparently had been talking to her for a bit by the time I caught up to her outside. Ms. Rago took her to detention, told me to write her up. And she said, “it sounds like they were just fooling around, though.”
I work in a school in which the administrators not only try to make excuses for kids, but also blame the teachers. I’m tired of adults who make excuses for the students. I remember one time Mr. Drye, the principal, told the teachers in a meeting that if a student fails with a 68 or a 69, then we didn’t do enough. Really? It’s our fault? Are you sure about that? What if they actually got to 68 or 69 instead of 65 or even 60, 50, precisely because we tried? You give these students even an inch, and they will take a mile from you. I will say this. I was in detention all the time in high school. I didn’t behave, and my grades sucked. But I will never, ever say that it was ever one of my teachers’ fault that I got a lower grade. Most of my low grades I deserved, and the others I got higher than what I deserved. Did I like some teachers more than others? Yes. But that has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that every single one of them tried their butt off to reach me and teach me as effectively as they can, and I simply did not do my part. It was, and never will be, the fault of my teachers for the way I underperformed. Given that mindset, I am tired of hearing that the teachers are not doing enough. Well how much of the kids’ education do you think is up to the teacher? 90%? 50%? 20%? What is it? And if it’s anything close to or below 50%, why do I always hear about how teachers have failed these students, instead of these kids failing themselves?
I work in a school in which the administrators think it’s a bigger deal for students to be skipping classes than for them to be shoving a teacher violently. When Danizjah did so a few weeks ago, she got one block suspension the next day. Sometimes students receive an all day ISS (In school Suspension) for all their blocks just for trying to skip classes. I only got her to all day ISS or a parent conference (we got the parent to come in, so no ISS but miscommunication between administration got her into ISS anyway) and even then I had to fight my way to get her more punishment.