Consistently over the past month I have heard again and again from the second year teachers, "you must be hard on these students. It isn't easy, but you've got to enforce discipline." At first, I was surprised and unclear by what this meant. What about compassion and understanding? "Always question their motives," I remember one teacher saying to me. In my primary school, discipline meant a one-on-one confidential talk where both sides were expressed and listened to. It wasn't publicized and usually just involved the student and teacher. The entire discipline process here in the Mississippi public schools is entirely foreign to me, to say the least. While I am trying to keep my 'beginner's mind'engaged (a Ben Guest-ism), I can't help but feel upset by an exchange I witnessed between a staff member and a student not too long ago.
A young man was sent to the summer school office for detention for talking fresh to his teacher, or something to that effect. Undoubtedly, the student's actions were out of line and it was clear that he was upset. It was right to remove him from the classroom at the risk of causing greater disruption to the other students, and to give him a chance to cool off. When he arrived at the the Principal's office he was a bit defiant, but certainly non confrontational. Then, the MTC summer school principal began to scold the student before even listening to the entire store. And from there, the whole situation went south.
It wasn't the words the Principal chose so much as how he chose to deliver them. The situation escalated, the child was provoked and defensive, and I couldn't blame him. Yes, children can ere and make mistakes, talking back without much restraint until through experience they learn better (believe me, I am still learning how to do this, my parents can attest). But when a figure of authority uses a condescending tone in a provocative way to discipline, isn't he just setting a bad example, perhaps even being hypocritical?
When the Principal had had enough, he left the room to attend to other issues and I was left alone in the room with the still fuming student. I could see the hurt and frustration on his face, and it was then that the underlying issue emerged -it was a power struggle. The student sat scratching at his desk with the tip of his eraser, he was assigned to copy President Obama's inauguration speech. I could just barely make out what he said as he mumbled under his breath, "I ain't gonna apologize to him. He ain't gonna win. I'll apologize to her [the teacher]...I wanna apologize to her, but not to him." At this point, I was on his side, if I were picking sides. The Principal had asked for an apology and he wouldn't deliver. "My father taught me never to give in to a white man," the boy said, and that's when I knew that this issue was deeper than I'd thought.
It was a classic power struggle. And as others have told me, you have to understand where these kids are coming from in order to communicate effectively with them. I think this applies to teaching and to discipline.
When I left work that day, several questions coursed through my mind: (1) Was this a male thing that I couldn't understand? (2) Or, could it be an issue of race (black student/white principal)? (3) Could it be a combination of race and gender?
The student was a black male about to be eighteen - a man by America's definition. The Principal, an MTC employee is white, male, and probably not much past the age of thirty. He has had years of teaching experience in the Delta and other parts of the South.
The racial differences were obvious, but could that really be the sole fuel for this confrontation? Maybe there is the inherent force of the biological competitiveness of males at play. And this effect compounded with the socially constructed racial tension served as a fatal calling for disaster.
I can't say for certain why this confrontation went awry. I'm no expert and I wasn't present for the initial exchange between teacher and student (white female/black student). However, from my social psychology class with Professor Sanderson last Spring, I've come to understand that "history informs behavior". That is, our present interactions are heavily shaped by past our experiences and exchanges.
From where I stand, administrators, faculty, staff, and other authority figures should enforce their rules with rigor. Most of the students in the schools that MTC teachers are teaching in come from poverty or low income households. Maybe they have a single mother for a parent, perhaps a father if they are lucky. They might be living with a grandparent, aunt, or uncle. Sometimes there is no figure out authority in their lives. They are crying out for structure, for discipline, for some kind of regularity and dependability in life. For this reason alone, those of us in positions of authority must chose our words carefully and make every conscious effort to supply discipline in a respectful way. When a Principal speaks to a student, black or white, male or female, he ought to bring the student up to a level where they expect them to be. We can't 'baby' them, but we mustn't beat them down either.
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