Drinks and Farts
Does anyone else have those days when nothing seems to get done? Well I have those days often. Maybe it’s just the nature of teaching children (and yes, I am including seniors in high school in that children category) and maybe there is something more insidious going on. Take today for example: I had to remind my students that drinks other than water or food of any kind is not allowed in the classroom or hallways. (By the way, that’s the school rule, not mine, I don’t really care as long as they pick up their trash) The reminder led to a 10 minute argument/discussion about the validity of that rule. All the students forget that I, the lowly teacher, do not make these rules, but alas they still attempted to convince me of the stupidity of the rule. Then later, I had a student walk into study hall (at that moment the study hall kids were actually quiet and studying, there’s a first time for everything) and proceeded to loudly fart, ensuring that all the students stopped their work and dissolved into giggling. As to the farting, I have a general rule that students who need to must step outside my room (I have an outdoor room, so outside my room is actually outside). This was a large problem two years ago and so I implemented the rule.
Now what, you may ask, has this to do with education? Well, somedays I feel like all common decency and respect has disappeared. My parents would have been mortified if a teacher told them I repeatedly left food crumbs and wrappers on the class floor and farted loudly and on purpose. Those kinds of behaviors were not tolerated in my house. I was raised with a high level of respect to the people around me and the environment I was in. I certainly act differently if I in the comfort and privacy of my own house versus a public event. I don’t want to sound like my grandma, but “kids these days don’t have any respect.” I have had students seriously ask me why it was not appropriate to fart in the class (“But it’s a natural bodily function”) or why they couldn’t leave their candy bar wrapper on the floor (“Isn’t that why we pay the janitors?”). I am trying to teach my own children (twin 6 year olds) etiquette and common decency, but see none of it among the students in my classroom. Have their parents dropped the ball on respect and decency or has the culture moved beyond the simple “Please,” “Thank you,” and “Sorrys.”
In my mind, I shouldn’t be teaching common decency at the high school level. I should be teaching students how to think, investigate, question, plan, imagine, wonder, revise… but somedays that gets pushed to the side so I can remind them that…
No “Johnny” farting in public is not funny or appropriate when I am teaching!
OH I needed the laugh… Thanks T!