Tuesday, April 28, 2009

What happened to respect?

As a kid in junior high and high school, I was never a troublemaker, by any stretch of the imagination, but I was one to play pranks with my friends during class. Now that I'm a teacher, I see the other side of things. One person once said that as bad as you are, your kids/students will be worse. After what I've seen today, I have to wonder if that is true.

The choir director has been having some issues with a couple of her students, so she finally sent them to the office. I happened to be headed up there to make some copies, and the conversation I heard and what she told me later dumbfounded me.

Apparently, these kids think she's prejudice against white people. Problem with that is that she's white.

She took away one kid's cell phone because he was texting. Now, I'm no dummy. I know that some of my students text during class, but they at least have the courtesy to keep it hidden. This kid sits in the front row and was just blatantly texting right there in front of her, and after she repeatedly told him to put it up, he didn't stop. As she was sending him out, he grabbed his crotch and spat on the floor. From what I hear, the assumption is that he was aiming for her, and just didn't make it. WTF?!?

The other student took offense to his friend being sent out, so he got up, and tried to get the phone from her. As he was doing this, he was calling her all sorts of names.

I don't know what's going to happen to these boys, but I hope they get some severe punishment. A slap on the wrist will not bode well for the rest of us. This was some brash tactics employed here, and if nothing is done, then it could be the start of something.

Unfortunately, it is part of the culture these days. Students don't respect their teachers anymore (except for the fear of coaches). A friend of mine that teaches band across town literally flunks her kids for not showing up, and they don't seem to care. I don't know about you, but an F in band is one of the worst grades I could possibly imagine, but apparently, they don't care about any of their classes and will just bitch and moan to their parents to get it changed, and somehow it gets changed. That never would have happened in my day.

*SIGH* I guess the good old days of respect are all but numbered. What do you think?

6 comments:

MamaFlo said...

Respect? You're kidding right, kids these days don't even know the definition, they have few if any manners, they expect the world to serve them - Respect - it's lost on this generation and probably every one after it.
SAD!!!!

askcherlock said...

This is why I left the teaching profession years ago. I taught high school English, but when there was a problem with discipline or when a parent was not happy with a grade their child received, the administration capitulated. Consequently education was the student in the last row that never saw a harvest.

Andy said...

It because we are afraid to hurt our children's precious self-esteem. Blame the teach...my child must have had a reason. Where the hell do we get off thinking our kids walk on water? (I love my kids...got 4...but they aren't really all that wise...)

BTW: It's not just kids who don't have respect...it's PEOPLE. We are a bunch of babies...

Mystery Man said...

MamaFlo- sure seems like it

askcherlock- i can't tell you how many time I've tought of leaving the profession, but then i think of how bad the economy is, and how much i love what i do, so i just suck it up and deal with it

Andy- i wonder when it was that we became such pansies

Valerie David said...

Argh. I really hope they do get some severe punishment. That is just totally out of line, and it will be really scary if they get away with it.

My sis-in-law is a grade school teacher and she has a terrible time getting parents to think that the kids should have any responsibility. She actually gets notes from parents "Please excuse little Bobby from his homework...we went out to dinner last night." Um, hello? That's not an excuse?

I'll admit I was jerky in class sometimes, but only when I was bored. If the teacher got my respect, then they got mine. Now kids don't respect anyone or anything but themselves. And they're used to having everything handed to them.

Mystery Man said...

well said Val. Excuses should be the way they were back in the day when you needed to signed note from a doctor or a program from a funeral.

You're right about kids gettign verything handed to them. *SIGH* It is situations like this that make me wish I lived back in the holsum days of the 40s-80s (wide range, but that's before kids got spoiled...i'm an 8-0s kid, btw) lol