Teachers attitudes affect students behavior

If we don’t change the attitude of some of our teachers – we will never change the problems some of our students manifest.  Here are a few examples of what bothers me about too many – certainly NOT all – teachers.

I met a woman I knew but hadn’t seen in ages.  She was dressed like a slob – dirty jeans, wrinkled top, tennis shoes.  I knew she was a teacher at an elementary school so I wondered what had happened to have her so poorly dressed and groomed.  I asked her if something was wrong and she replied:  “Who am I to impress they are only kids.”

Years ago as a graduate student one of my course requirements was to mentor a young at-risk child.  My mentee was a shy delightful little Chicana girl.  We would take walks together.  One day she proudly showed me the dress she was wearing and said: “I’ve kept it clean all week and Mommy didn’t have to wash it.”  She was so proud.

A few weeks later I met with her teacher who – among other things she said – told me that she found these students disgusting because they wore the same clothes day after day and she (the teacher) would never allow her child to go to school in the same dress twice in a row.  Her lack of empathy and understanding bothered me tremendously and I’ve never forgotten that story.

Not to long ago,  when visiting my cousin, a k-12 principal in California, I asked “Did you see how that teacher treated that student?”  I was horrified and my tone of voice reflected it.  My cousin replied:  If I so much as comment on it – they file a grievance with the union.  It takes me many hours to prepare for the hearing – and I lose anyway.  I’ve given up.

Recently, I was with a group of highly motivated educators and we were talking about strategies to make their students feel more welcome and safer.  One of the suggestions was to have the teachers stand at an open door welcoming students as they moved from class-room to class-room (period to period).  Much to my chagrin – several teachers responded that “it’s not in my contract.”