Another Nuisance
Teachers Harassed By Teachers
By Daniel Muniz

Teachers already have a hard enough time maintaining discipline in the classroom because of unruly students disrupting the learning environment but a lot of people are unaware of another pesky problem that they also have to deal with. And surprisingly, this nuisance doesn’t come from angry parents or spineless administrators but from a source that is completely unexpected. Educators are sometimes hassled by their fellow faculty members who actually insist that they gloss over a student’s misconduct or some other behavioral issue.

Many teachers feel outraged that they have to waste time arguing with their co-workers about a student’s bad behavior.
 

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In a place where almost everybody in society feels entitled to blame the teacher for just about everything that goes wrong, this kind of confrontation takes on a sense of betrayal. After all, it is the child who committed the violation so he or she is entirely responsible for whatever punishment is rendered. As a result, it is not the teacher’s fault that the student did something wrong so it is ridiculous for another educator to feel that way.

One teacher recounted to me her experience of having to get a cheerleader in her classroom suspended.

Cheerleaders are higher up in the social food chain so they are highly respected by faculty and staff which allows them to be well connected in the educational leadership. But for this particular educator that I know, she recognizes absolutely no silly caste system because if somebody commits a serious infraction, he or she deserves to get punished for it regardless of who they are or what their social status may be.

Unfortunately, some of the faculty and staff didn’t see it that way.

The cheerleading coach marched into this teacher’s room and wanted an explanation of what really happened. Long story short, the teacher caught the young girl red handed skipping out of her class as well as her effort to conceal it. The girl’s mother also tried to cover up the incident but both of their lies didn’t sync up.

Even so, the cheerleading coach then tried to persuade the teacher to drop the whole thing.

It was bad enough having to deal with an irate parent sticking up for a child’s truancy but to add insult to injury, the administrators were also lenient to the cheerleader so they suspended her “only” during that class period instead of meting out a punishment of a day or two of in-school suspension. It greatly bothered this teacher because the administrators always nailed the “bad” kids to wall for anything. However, the “gifted and talented” kids, cheerleaders, jocks, and others seemed to get away with murder.

Unfortunately, teachers in almost every school across the country have had to deal with this kind of crap.

In the past, the worst offenders were football players and other athletes. However, when state legislators forced schools to adopt the “pass or no play” rules for their athletes, many educators were tremendously relieved because they were now spared of the aggressive arm twisting tactics. They still come under a lot of pressure but now it is done in very subtle ways from administrators and from other faculty members who want them to lighten up on a certain kid.

The root of the problem belongs entirely to the educational leadership.

It is easy to punish the “bad” kids because so little is expected out of them. Unfortunately, that is not the case with the students who are on the top of the social/academic/athletic food chain especially since so much is expected from them. But it is that kind of special relationship that poisons the integrity of our education system. Everybody has to be treated the same regardless of who they are.

Someone skipping out of a class or committing any other serious violation should receive the exact same outcome whether he is a hoodlum or the varsity quarterback of the football team.

Of course it doesn’t work that way!

And that is why it is absolutely critical for the administration of a campus to set the example from the top by implementing a uniform practice that applies to everyone. Discipline problems should not be tolerated at all from anyone and that includes the best and the brightest of the student body. If the entire faculty and staff can accept such a unified approach, then teachers wouldn’t have to have adversarial relationships with fellow educators. That puts the blame right back on the mischievous student, which is where it should always belong.

However, such a grand policy is easier said than done.

It requires enormous professionalism and tremendous maturity. It also means that a lot of faculty and staff have to swallow their pride and focus strictly on the integrity of our education system. And that is hard to do especially if a coach or a teacher has devoted so much time and effort fashioning out a skill or talent of a student and then see it get flushed down the toilet because of something stupid that was done.

But that is the harsh reality of life. It happens all the time in the real world and it is just as likely to happen with kids. And that is why it is imperative that administrators discuss the severity of punishments to the entire student body with their faculty.

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