Here at SCM we love shortcuts.
We love saving time, lowering stress, and simplifying everything so we can enjoy all that is fun and rewarding about teaching.
We also love efficiency, clarity, and honesty.
It’s this last one, honesty, that we’re going to talk about today. Because all effective classroom management strategies and their benefits become worthless if not backed by truthfulness.
Too many teachers dance around the truth or hide it altogether in order to avoid hurting student feelings. But dishonesty, no matter how shaded or nuanced, not only destroys your best strategies, but it guarantees that your students . . .
Never get the feedback they need to improve.
Never internalize the concept of right and wrong.
Lately, I’ve been reading about a group of high school students who had been bullying and terrorizing their community since elementary school. Last fall at a party they picked on another group of boys who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
This second group tried to get away. They ran and even hid in some bushes. But the bullies tracked them down and pummeled them. They punched and kicked them while they were down.
One boy was knocked unconscious and left in the street. He died two days later.
It’s a horrible story, and I can’t stop thinking about it. For years, this gang of cowards beat up classmates and anyone else they could find and then posted their conquests to social media.
Six boys have been arrested. Their parents share some of the blame, of course. But I also wonder about their former teachers and administrators who had been witness to their bad behavior since elementary school.
I’m sure there were some wonderful and caring people who tried to intervene. But did these kids get the truth? Were they consistently held accountable?
Did they pay a price for their transgressions?
Or were they given chance after chance? Was their behavior justified and excused because they had uninvolved parents or learning difficulties? Were they appeased and falsely praised and told the lie that their bullying wasn’t their fault?
I’m not blaming their teachers. But could it have been different? Would the bully who, according to witnesses, danced on the body of the boy who died have made a different choice that night if he had been given—again and again through words and strict accountability—the hard truth about his behavior?
We’ll never know. But it’s hard for me not to think so.
All the counseling and social-emotional learning they were undoubtedly exposed to; all the bribes, rewards, and flattery; all the grade inflation, talking-tos, group circles, and restorative justice practices . . . None of it works beyond a fake few minutes.
But it does plant a seed.
It plants a seed that over time can grow into full-blown narcissism and sociopathy. It plants seed that develops ruthlessness devoid of fault or responsibility and manipulation that feigns remorse and garners sympathy.
Unfortunately, there is no shortage of teachers and principals who buy the scam. Day after day, in schools across the country, they continue to water this poisonous Daphne while patting themselves on the back for being caring people.
Now one boy is dead and six others are facing life in prison. The road to hell is paved with good intentions indeed.
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