Childrens

Part of my job search includes substitute teaching at my old elementary/middle/high schools. Usually, it's fun because I get to see younger siblings all grown up or pool rats that now tower over me and clearly wouldn't be stopped by a whistle. But other days.... other days are like yesterday. Yesterday I worked for a 1st grade teacher and, well, it was a challenge.

First, these kids whined like there was no tomorrow. They whined about everything. One girl, Karista whined at least every 25 seconds. I am accustomed to children whining in non-English, so this whole "me-understanding-everything-you-say-with-your-retainer-in" thing was really annoying. They told on each other every other minute for things such as "Kenny won't stop looking at me," or "Gage keeps saying 'Blah Blah Blah' to me."

Then, there was that one kid. There's always one. The one kid who just... well, peep the stories then you can decide for yourself. First I noticed that he was extremely ADD - and not that like, wimpy excuse for ADD - he, literally, could not sit still and if he was sitting still he was turned away (not facing his homework) and trying to distract the kid behind him. Then, while I was reading he was running around the room with a red permanent marker looking at me and pointing it at things. Then... then he pulled the trigger. It was indoor recess (whomever thought of this idea should be killed) and he turned on the radio. I walked over to be all teacher-like and make sure nothing was broken and he screamed. No, really, screamed. And said "DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" I had to use my body to block his access to the radio. I was praying the PE class would whip them in to shape and exhaust them for the last two hours of the day. But no - as I started to work on the science assignment he went back to the teacher's computer and started pounding on the keyboard.

me: "Please come work on your paper"
him: "NO!"
me: "I'm giving you the answers, if you don't do this now you won't be able to finish it."
him: "Don't tell me what to DO!"

Ok kid... you should die. You should eat glass and throw yourself in front of traffic. Clearly, I didn't say any of these things out loud - but sharing them here makes me feel overall less violent towards him. Then I notice he is trying to put things - not discs - in to the disc drive of the teachers computer.

me: Walks over, pushes his chair away from the computer he's about to do damage to.
kid: "DON'T PUSH ME! IF YOU TOUCH ME I WILL TELL MY MOM."
me: I didn't push you, I pushed your chair.
kid: "I WILL TELL MY MOM"

so - that was my day at 1st grade. I think, Kindergarten may put these stories to shame, but for now I hope they suffice.

These stories really make me think about the differences in kids culturally. These kids I taught yesterday clearly have no respect or ideal of what authority is. One of the teacher aids that was in my classroom said "There's no one at home teaching them to respect authority." I agreed, but it worried me. Why is it that these children need someone to teach them to respect authority - even if it's just teachers. In Rwanda, most of the children we worked with never pushed me to the point I was pushed to yesterday. Sure, some of them pushed our buttons, but I could also assert myself as their teacher and they would listen. We could almost always divert their attention to the lesson and, above all, we could give them one colored pencil and one coloring sheet and they would be quiet and concentrated for HOURS.

But I know that these kids didn't have someone at home telling them who they should respect. Most of them barely had parents present to cook for them, let alone teach them life lessons. So how do they learn? Is it something they overhear so much they just take it as common behavior? Are there so many Americans around that think authority is crap and pass that on to the porous sponges we call children? Maybe it's a rural Indiana thing - maybe this wouldn't have been an issue somewhere that have many parents highly educated and clearly have a revere for education. But then again, barely anyone in Rwanda had a primary school education - so its not like there was a pulse through the country encouraging children to attain education. Most of them wanted the girls to get married or baptized instead of going to secondary school.

Maybe it is what the kids eat. I think this can all be blamed on junkfood and soda. Down with those commercials about the sad mom who can't buy her kids soda because of a tax on high fructose corn syrup! She's ruining America! She's making the children crazy! At least I know now, it's not a lack of materials or resources as I've seen them abundantly available every classroom I walk in to. It's the children - and that's where we need to focus.