How to Intervene Without Denying the Needs of Youth?
A Buffalo Teacher
A friend of mine, and fellow teacher, gave me a lift to work this morning. On the ride in, we shared recent experiences with the difficulties we face as public school teachers. I realized, once again, that discussion of these difficulties, more often than not, centers on this or that student. In my ten years of teaching, there has been no shortage of “student bashing” or the pressure to join in conversations that center on how “bad” the students can be. It becomes a cycle, or habit, like falling into the gossip trap. At the same time, there is a real need for teachers to share their experiences with each other about common problems. All teachers have their lousy days and it feels helpful to blow off steam by sharing a story or two with a colleague. But if limited to repeating how “bad” some students are, this venting does not solve anything. In fact, in my experience, the farther one falls into the student-bashing trap, the cynicism, the sarcasm, the harder it is to climb out and, in the end, this habit usually translates into further attacks on the youth, and eventually, teacher burnout.
In light of these problems, I found the discussion article on “Attitude Problem” in the March issue of Voice of Revolution (VOR) to be helpful. After reading it, I found myself thinking about many things. What would it be like to be a seventh or eighth grade student now? What defines a “good” or “bad” student? Looking back when I was in grade school, I guess I was both. I never did much schoolwork and got pretty lousy grades, which is “bad” — but I was generally well-liked by my teachers and other students, which is “good.” My teachers probably wouldn’t say I had an “attitude problem.” But what about now?
If I were a young student today, I would get pretty sick and tired of being told to get back in line, stop talking, hurry up, slow down, spit out my gum, to open up my locker for a drug search, to be told who I have to apologize to, how I’ll never make it in high school, how I’ll never be able to hold down a job, to have to sit and be lectured to about responsibility, the “code of conduct,” to be told what clothes I could or could not wear, etc. The VOR article says: “People express their thoughts and feelings regarding what is right and wrong, what is and what ought to be, when they reject their marginalization, oppression, and exploitation. This is an expression of the right to conscience and serves to advance the social interests. To label the problem as one of attitude is to demand that one separate their thoughts and feelings from their conditions of life, to demand that one change their attitude absent change in their conditions of life. It is tantamount to saying that no one has the right to challenge his or her conditions of misery, oppression, of exploitation.”
So, it follows that a “good” student, one that does not have an “attitude problem,” could be defined as someone who not only does their schoolwork, gets good grades and gets along with their peers, but is also pretty good at separating their thoughts and feelings from their conditions of life — an ability that is dangerous to the individual and society, as it means the person is being trained to survive separate, or aloof, from reality and to accept that separation as normal and even “good.” How can it be helpful to train our youth to ignore rotten conditions instead of doing something about them? Why should we, as teachers, participate in demanding and forcing the youth to not look reality in the eye and punish them if they dare to do so?
The conditions of life for some of my students, specifically, translate into a struggle for basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. The article says, “Attitude is increasingly being treated as a crime, as can be seen in the fact that students are routinely punished in schools on the basis solely of their attitude.” But if a student is living in poverty, how could their attitude not reflect the fact that they are living in poverty? And are they supposed to just ignore this violence against them as individuals, and, considering the majority of Buffalo students live in poverty, against their collective as a whole? It seems to me the role of teachers is to assist and defend the youth who reject these conditions and recognize that doing so is an important part of defending their rights.
A main problem with “bashing” the students who supposedly have “attitude problems,” other than it does not solve anything, is that it denies the existence of society. The very core of the existing social, political, cultural, economic set up is rotten. It demands renewal. It demands change. Is it any wonder that the youth reject this? What future do they have other than more poverty, more war, more repression at every turn? The problems are huge, but not unsolvable. And the youth play a vital role in changing the situation.
One question for me, the next time I’m around a student-bashing session, is to intervene by saying, how about if we take a different starting point for this discussion? How about if we ask what will assist the youth involved? What will assist youth and teachers together in creating an atmosphere for discussion and solving problems? What will help eliminate the current atmosphere where students are treated like prisoners and teachers prison guards? This is our reality — let’s look it in the eye and change it, together.
A friend of mine, and fellow teacher, gave me a lift to work this morning. On the ride in, we shared recent experiences with the difficulties we face as public school teachers. I realized, once again, that discussion of these difficulties, more often than not, centers on this or that student. In my ten years of teaching, there has been no shortage of “student bashing” or the pressure to join in conversations that center on how “bad” the students can be. It becomes a cycle, or habit, like falling into the gossip trap. At the same time, there is a real need for teachers to share their experiences with each other about common problems. All teachers have their lousy days and it feels helpful to blow off steam by sharing a story or two with a colleague. But if limited to repeating how “bad” some students are, this venting does not solve anything. In fact, in my experience, the farther one falls into the student-bashing trap, the cynicism, the sarcasm, the harder it is to climb out and, in the end, this habit usually translates into further attacks on the youth, and eventually, teacher burnout.
In light of these problems, I found the discussion article on “Attitude Problem” in the March issue of Voice of Revolution (VOR) to be helpful. After reading it, I found myself thinking about many things. What would it be like to be a seventh or eighth grade student now? What defines a “good” or “bad” student? Looking back when I was in grade school, I guess I was both. I never did much schoolwork and got pretty lousy grades, which is “bad” — but I was generally well-liked by my teachers and other students, which is “good.” My teachers probably wouldn’t say I had an “attitude problem.” But what about now?
If I were a young student today, I would get pretty sick and tired of being told to get back in line, stop talking, hurry up, slow down, spit out my gum, to open up my locker for a drug search, to be told who I have to apologize to, how I’ll never make it in high school, how I’ll never be able to hold down a job, to have to sit and be lectured to about responsibility, the “code of conduct,” to be told what clothes I could or could not wear, etc. The VOR article says: “People express their thoughts and feelings regarding what is right and wrong, what is and what ought to be, when they reject their marginalization, oppression, and exploitation. This is an expression of the right to conscience and serves to advance the social interests. To label the problem as one of attitude is to demand that one separate their thoughts and feelings from their conditions of life, to demand that one change their attitude absent change in their conditions of life. It is tantamount to saying that no one has the right to challenge his or her conditions of misery, oppression, of exploitation.”
So, it follows that a “good” student, one that does not have an “attitude problem,” could be defined as someone who not only does their schoolwork, gets good grades and gets along with their peers, but is also pretty good at separating their thoughts and feelings from their conditions of life — an ability that is dangerous to the individual and society, as it means the person is being trained to survive separate, or aloof, from reality and to accept that separation as normal and even “good.” How can it be helpful to train our youth to ignore rotten conditions instead of doing something about them? Why should we, as teachers, participate in demanding and forcing the youth to not look reality in the eye and punish them if they dare to do so?
The conditions of life for some of my students, specifically, translate into a struggle for basic needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. The article says, “Attitude is increasingly being treated as a crime, as can be seen in the fact that students are routinely punished in schools on the basis solely of their attitude.” But if a student is living in poverty, how could their attitude not reflect the fact that they are living in poverty? And are they supposed to just ignore this violence against them as individuals, and, considering the majority of Buffalo students live in poverty, against their collective as a whole? It seems to me the role of teachers is to assist and defend the youth who reject these conditions and recognize that doing so is an important part of defending their rights.
A main problem with “bashing” the students who supposedly have “attitude problems,” other than it does not solve anything, is that it denies the existence of society. The very core of the existing social, political, cultural, economic set up is rotten. It demands renewal. It demands change. Is it any wonder that the youth reject this? What future do they have other than more poverty, more war, more repression at every turn? The problems are huge, but not unsolvable. And the youth play a vital role in changing the situation.
One question for me, the next time I’m around a student-bashing session, is to intervene by saying, how about if we take a different starting point for this discussion? How about if we ask what will assist the youth involved? What will assist youth and teachers together in creating an atmosphere for discussion and solving problems? What will help eliminate the current atmosphere where students are treated like prisoners and teachers prison guards? This is our reality — let’s look it in the eye and change it, together.
