Tuesday, November 25, 2008

All I'm askin' is for a little RE RE RE RE

Three girls, around age 13 or 14, were incredibly disrespectful today. It amazes me, given the high premium placed on respect in teen culture, that some kids do not understand that they need to give respect. I told them as much: That I treat them with respect and expect the same. They had Evil in their eyes today, though; they were possessed with some demon of adolescence. Hence, two girls who had been "mostly good" with a side of "not doing much work" rapidly elevated their stature to "major pain in the ass". One had me so angry, somehow, through some adolescent demoncraft, that I was consciously avoiding telling her just what a f-ing pain she was being. Consciously restraining myself from cursing at a student--NICE. Trust me that I was provoked. Then their friend who is not very bright and just follows along joined in the fun and was sent to the assistant principal to join her belligerent friends.

Then a kid puked in my class, right after returning from the nurse with a headache. He looked gray! Poor guy. Poor us, cleaning it up.

6 comments:

will said...

Having suffered-survived-lived through the teen years of two - and meeting their friends, I maintain with conviction, once past puberty, ALL of them should be placed in state run camps-work centers-civilian work details for a minimum of ten years. At that point most will have gained a brain and be ready for education.

They can occasionally video conference with their parents, if the parents agree, that is.

kStyle said...

Hmmmm, I like what you say, Bill. You never know when one will suddenly TURN, so it's best to confine the lot.

will said...

Watching the births of our two proved to me the strength of women. Teachers who work with kids 12 to 18, should be paid a fortune for their efforts!

Birthing and teaching aren't the same - but the will power and courage of the two must be similar.

Narya said...

And you say you want to do this full time? You are a stronger woman than I am.

One of my best friends from grad school is now a middle school (? around 7th grade, I think?) teacher, and he brooks no shit from his student bodies. The kids' parents come in & thank him (he's teaching on Long Island, i think).

kStyle said...

The things is, the kids at this age are really, profoundly, exquisitely interesting at all times. Yes, exhausting and sometimes evil; yes, sometimes surprisingly good; but always, always interesting.

kStyle said...

PS And ESL is usually a pull-out, not a classroom situation. Has its advantages.