The syllabus (or whatever that was that we had to read) spoke at the very beggining about creating an atmosphere of trust and security. Now I know that that is what every school strives to be for the students that go to their facilities, but the truth is that, that is just very unrealistic. No place is safe. Sometimes even the homes that many of these students abide in are not the most pleasant places to be in. Everyone is different, raised differently according to ethnicity and religion. I was saying in class that maybe one thing may seem normal to you but it may seem ridiculous to others. The thing is that kids don’t know when to stay quiet sometimes. They gather up their buddies and continue to ridicule peers. Kids have a way of creating their own hiearchy this way, finding the most acceptable or cool, and making everything else inferior. So there is a lot of pressure going on for the ones who aren’t as high up there as others. This is in every school, it does not matter if its the best school in the world. The youth society have their own form of organizing. Many times, violence can result from contrasting groups or cliches. So with this type of environment, there could be no trust or security. Although, it was a very pretty idea from whoever wrote it down.
1. mean kids
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February 11, 2008 at 7:34 pm |
I think it is definitely an uphill battle. But do we teachers just throw up our hands and give up? What responsibility to we have to these kids?
February 12, 2008 at 3:29 pm |
School can be a scary place. The homes our students grow up in can also be scary places. It is our responsibility as teachers to try to provide a safe and nurturing environment. This is not always easy to do. Kids sometimes come to school hungry and unsettled from homes that don’t provide the stability kids need to learn and grow. I was one of those kids. School was often the only place I felt safe. Free breakfast, free lunch, my teachers rewarded my efforts and made me feel welcome in their classroom. I wasn’t well liked as a child. In fact, I remember having no kids that I could connect with during early childhood. It was the teachers I had that gave me the encouragement and positive feelings that kept me going when times were tough.
February 13, 2008 at 6:40 pm |
This is very true especially during adolescents. There is a book Queen Bees and Wannabes that is all about the hierarchy of high school. Although it focuses solely on Female adolescents. There are also a lot of outside factors to consider as well with adolescent behavior that might not be as obvious. Kids and adolescents are very aware of the clique or group with they belong to as well as the other groups and who are members of them.