Chatting with a few colleagues at the end of the day yesterday(7:30pm - Just thought I would remind you that we teachers don't finish at 3...And I was carrying more work home with me...), and the Head of Year 9, marches towards us triumphant and devastated.
'All I have is Deranged on my mind. Deranged, Deranged, Deranged... I have had enough!'
Deranged is a tall black boy, involved in gangs outside of school, and involved in constant disruption and rudeness in school. I teach him, and well, actually, I find I cannot teach him. He is a law onto himself. Monday he tried to bully me into giving him a higher mark on his report, shouted at me, and marched out of the classroom, slamming the door. So I pipe up.
'Miss Fed-Up, what are we doing with Deranged? I mean, when are we going for permanent exclusion? I can't take him anymore!' (He has been with us for just over 2 years now, making learning for the rest of his class impossible.)
Miss Fed-Up smiles. 'Well Miss Snuffleupagus, today, Deranged shoved past Mr Fierce.'
I widen my eyes in hope. 'Shoved? What do you mean, 'shoved'? You mean he HIT him?' We all look at her, expectantly, hoping, wishing...
'He shoved his arm out of the way and pushed past him.'
A hushed 'yesss' passes all of our lips. It is what the kids say when they get what they want, when they've heard good news. We all know what this means. I literally jump up and down and clap my hands together.
'We've got him! We've got him!' I shout. I am smiling from ear to ear. 'That's it, right Miss Fed-Up? That's what we've been waiting for.'
She smiles. 'Yes, that's it. He's out. We've got what we need for permanent exclusion.' The rest of us breathe a sigh of relief. Miss Fed-Up of course is feeling sad and defeated because Deranged was one of hers. She has worked hard with him. She has done everything she can to save him. My Grimace is her Deranged. (We're still waiting to hear the appeal date for Grimace. That story is far from over...)
Then I notice Miss Posh looking confused. 'But what about Psycho? I saw him with his hand in a bandage earlier today. I assumed after I read that email of the incident with you Miss Snuffleupagus, that it was because he had hit you, or hit something near you, or something...? She looks at me, hoping I can give her the same good news that has just been bestowed on Miss Fed-Up.
'Uh...no. He hit a wall down the way from my office, after he blew up at me, shouted in my face, and told me that he was going to get me, that I should watch out, because he would get me.'
'Damn!' Miss Posh's face is twisted with frustration. 'I thought... I thought we finally had him.' Psycho is in Year 10. I'm afraid he is yet another black boy who has caused havoc across the school for over 3 years and we still cannot get him out. Constant disruption over years is not really enough. Attacking a teacher on its own isn't enough either. Put them together, and the attempt at permanent exclusion is almost water-tight.
'I'm sorry.' I whimper. 'I'm sorry Miss Posh' I look to the floor.
I feel awful. I feel awful because I didn't get Psycho wound up enough to hit me. Instead I told him that he was harassing me and that he should move away. I handled it in the way that one should. Suddenly I realise that maybe the more clever move would have been to goad the child until he took a swipe.
Do the ends justify the means? In any case, I'm not sure I fancy the black-eye...
13 comments:
I find it disheartening in the extreme even to imagine that a teacher might initiate, escalate or prolong a verbal altercation with a student, as low-life as that student may be, in an attempt to provoke him into doing something in a flash of rage that would get him excluded or whatever. This would be a heinous form of entrapment. The job of schoolteachers, police officers, and other people in positions of public trust who deal with difficult social situations on society's behalf is to calm tensions, not aggravate them. When it comes to that, Miss, I hope you will hang up your chalk and retire, or you'll end up the equivalent of the redneck sherrif in the U.S. south egging the black guy in a bar with a bit too much liquor in him into taking a swipe at him.
It is hardly heinous, if you have an aggressive, unpleasant student, who makes threats against teachers (whose job is EDUCATION, not animal taming), who chooses to become rude and confrontational, and instead of saving from himself, you allow him to become enraged.
Teachers should not have to deal with this.
I work with a typical Guardian-reading ex-teacher, who was driven out by the horrendousness of it.
I cannot myself imagine how it must be to deal with the children I saw in the fried chicken shop today, shouting throwing things around, abusing the man behind the counter, and to do it every day.
So if some scumbag, whose every day in school disrupts the education of dozens of more decent children, chooses to get confrontational, why should the teacher be obligated passively calm him? It does not make sense. These children have free will. If they do not act like gorillas, they will not have any issues.
First of all, they are just what Mr Investment Banker says they are: children. Whatever harm they have done or are capable of doing, they are children, and a schoolteacher is in a position of public trust to care for them. Inciting a child to violence is hardly the appropriate form of care.
Second, the student could just as easily pull a knife and slash Miss's face as anything esle.
Third, what becomes of the school when teachers and students are brawling in the hallways? How does this improve already difficult conditions? There is a larger picture here, not just one student you'd like to see out on his ear.
Some lines teachers just do not cross. Inciting a student to violence is one of them. My earlier anaology was mistaken: it's not like a southern sherrif inciting a black man to take a drunken swipe at him so he can pummel him to death, it's like the London police framing a robbery suspect because, well, if he didn't do this robbery, we're pretty sure he's done others, but we've never been able to nail him, but wouldn't society be better off with him in jail? Without a doubt. Wouldn't society also be better off without police officers framing suspects? It's the classic dividing line between liberals and conservatives, seen today in the torture chambers of Guantánamo: the liberal always maintains that it is better to let one murderer go free on a technicality (an illegal search for evidence, for example), than to compromise the justice system and the people who work in it. And of course they're right. Because the consequences of the murderer walking free is one more heinous murderer walking the streets, until the police can put him away legitimately. The consequences of the justice system being corrupted . . . well, some people I'm sure will argue that this is a good thing.
I am sitting here wondering how you can put up with your job, and why you put up with it. I know you're dedicated and want to make a difference in some children's lives. But the frustration level must be intolerable (and you've started the timothy/matthew show again). Are there glimmers of hope that keep you coming back? There must be some positive aspects of your job and school otherwise I don't see how you can slog it out day after dismal day.
Kudos to you once again Snuffy. I find it absolutely shocking that attacking a teacher on its own isn't enough for exclusion. That's just wrong. I think you did the right thing by not goading Psycho into violence, not the least because it might have been a painful experience. I suspect you're too principled to use entrapment...
Timothy
Why do you keep accusing Matthew of changing Wikipedia entries? And what is it with accusing him of saying all poor people are scum. He never said this! And what is it with Castro? Yes, there are some good things about Castro and there are some bad things too. Matthew pointed out the bad things from what I remember. He isn't the Anti-Christ! Matthew also makes some good points here.
So do you of course. It is an interesting question however, whether the ends justify the means, and this you don't even acknowledge. You are just crazed with certainty that anything other than what you think is wrong.
Clearly I agree with you Timothy on this one. I suppose yes, I think we teachers should do what is right and that corruption of the system is a road that one should not go down. HOWEVER (and this is where you and I differ big time), I don't think it is so glaringly obvious. The philosophical question of whether we should continue to allow a child to ruin the learning and sometimes the lives of many other children, in order to ensure the purity of the system is a question worth considering.
And inciting a child to violence was not what I suggested. I suggested the option of allowing him to simply continue along those lines which were already drawn, rather than, as Mathew said: save the child from himself. Why can't you see that Timothy? Why do you have to exaggerate? Why are you so blinkered? It is simply extraordinary.
As for you not getting the point about children at private schools and their reps etc. Well, I'm too tired to help you out there. And I know that whatever I say, you'll continue to think as you do. All of your interactions have proved that you listen to no one. And I, who will be at work until 10:30pm tonight, have neither the time nor energy to try to enlighten you. I must surely be an extreme right-winger too who kills babies in my spare time.
Wake Up - I love my job. I had a great day. I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open yes, and I don't know how the hell I can survive till 10:30pm like this, and I haven't eaten any lunch, (that's normal) and I am in a panic as to what I can grab to eat to pretend as dinner, (because we don't have food shops around here or vending machines or quite frankly anything!) but yes, the kids on the whole are fantastic and there is no other job in the world that I would do. Today, these 2 terrors who disrupt all over the place, screamed across the playground at break to me, saying they had done their homework. And they ran over to me and got it out to show me. And then they danced around saying 'No detention! No detention!' They were so happy with themselves. You have no idea what I have gone through to get them there. It was great. Teaching these kids is the most satisfying job in the world and I love them. Unfortunately, I seem to love them more than I do myself!
Snuffy, much as I love your blogs, and my admiration for you is unbounding, I have to say I am becoming rather hooked on the Matt'n'Tim show.
btw, did anyone see this
I remember from school (and mine was a comprehensive in a wealthy area with good students) that weak teachers were pounced upon, so to speak, and could not keep discipline. This did not extend beyond paper fights when the teacher's back was turned though.
Further down the educational ladder, I guess this is what you get. These teachers do not deserve it. I'm sure many of them (those who struggle at crowd control) are capable teachers and would thrive in an adult education environment, or something, but with a class of savages there is no mercy.
My dad taught maths at university level to students who wanted to learn and chose to be there. If he tried to go to anything other than an absolute top flight school he would have been massacred though.
Some of my colleagues have talked about pushing students to their limit in the hope that they'll do something like this. I hate the thought of being a victim of it.
I've already had one kid excluded for using violence towards me (I've only been qualified just over a year) and I would not like a repeat of that.
It's no wonder so many people leave the profession.
Matthew
Hmm yes... I'm afraid that this kind of behaviour is common in schools. My current school doesn't have much of it, but then we are a good school. My previous schools were like that all the time, not for me, but for other teachers. And yes, most teachers in the inner city are seriously good at discipline. If they went to a private school or even a leafy state school, they would find it easy. What is a shame is that only the teachers who are simply extraordinary at discipline manage to control their classes in the inner city.
Snuffy, take one (from this post):
"I feel awful because I didn't get Psycho wound up enough to hit me . . . maybe the more clever move would have been to goad the child until he took a swipe".
Snuffy, take two (from discussion of this post):
"And inciting a child was not what I suggested . . . Why can't you see that Timothy? Why do you have to exaggerate? Why are you so blinkered?"
Uh, read your own comments. Exaggerate? Blinkered? If the shoe fits. You're so hysterically convinced of the divine truth of your incoherent ramblings that anyone who disagrees with you is evil. Or stupid.
You might try reading what the dictionary has to say about the words goad and incite for a start.
Goad, from the OED: "A strong incitement or instigation; 'spur' stimulus".
Incite, from the OED: "To urge or spur on".
I think there's enough overlap of meaning to declare that the two are virtually synonymous; if anything, "goad", your term, is the stronger.
You bend everything to fit your warped views. I won't be reading them anymore, beginning with whatever response you may make to these comments here.
Timothy - The whole point of the post was to point to the irony that I should feel guilty for having done the right thing. The point was to demonstrate that what seems to be the right thing can sometimes seem to be the wrong thing and to open the question for discussion. I was not making an absolute statement to say that I SHOULD have goaded the child.
It is not true that I think anyone who disagrees with me is stupid or evil. Most of the people who comment on my blog disagree with me in one way or the other and not only do I invite them to do so, but they have helped to shape my views. My views are constantly changing. In fact, even you have helped to alter my views at times. Sometimes you make superb arguments for the Left that remind me of why I believe in Leftist ways. Other times you are so blinkered that you help to move me further to the Right.
It is interesting that you don't see how my posts are riddled with uncertainty, that they are often questioning certain ways of thinking and ought to give people pause to think. Most people on here do exactly that. You seem to just get angry, so angry in fact, that you have now decided to disappear.
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