The fucking drama continues. One of my best kids dropped my class today. He is a talented actor and incredible on tech crew. He sees and solves problems before they happen. I love working with him. And he dropped my class because his friends have been giving him crap for his personal life in class. That in itself is bad enough; these kids need to grow the fuck up and stay out of each others' business. They are so self-righteous and judgmental and nasty to each other. Most of it has moved out of my class, so there isn't a ton I can do about it. But to make it worse, him being allowed to drop the class continues a trend I've seen before: the kid who is being hurt is moved and the kids who are doing the hurting stay put.
The kid who has been hurt is uprooted and moved as though they are at fault for what has been done to them. Instead of making the other students responsible for their actions, instead of removing them from the class because they are making it unsafe, they stay while others are forced out. This is not okay. It should be the bullies who are removed, not the kids who are being bullied. But that is not what happens. Every time I've had a situation with students being mean to each other, the kids who should be removed are not. It is very upsetting.
By doing this we are teaching students that it is the victim's fault that they are bullied. We teach them that their life will be uprooted and the bully's will not. We teach them that to speak up will lead to more trouble and that they should not expect support from those around them. This makes me ill. Victims should be the priority. But in my experience they are not.
We are also teaching the bullies that they can get away with anything. Instead of forcing them to take responsibility for their actions, we teach them that someone else will clean up their messes. We teach them that consequences don't exist for their bad behavior. That is not going to last. Eventually consequences will catch up to them. Unfortunately, because they are not being taught as teenagers about consequences so they will need to learn as adults. Instead of learning in high school when they can come back from their mistakes, they will be left to flounder in college or jobs. We are doing them no favors. Students are being taught the exact opposite of what we want them to learn.
In schools, consequences only happen if the teachers are supported in giving them. I wish that were different.
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