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Remedial Civility Training By Thomas H. Benton

by pixie

Feb 6, 2013

To those of you who have experienced the most challenging of behavior problems, the following excerpt from an article "Remedial Civility Training," by Thomas Benton, from The Chronicle of Higher Education, may reassure you that you are not alone, and that the behavior is not your fault. If you have not been subjected to this behavior, consider yourself fortunate. Benton writes:

"I am sometimes sent to observe new high-school teachers and am usually shocked by what I see. Those teachers -- bright, idealistic, hopeful -- are sometimes treated with such open rudeness that it seems as if they have become objects of ritual abuse -- scapegoats for undisciplined adolescent rage. It doesn't surprise me that attrition rates for teachers are so high: teaching requires a kind of moral strength that few possess without many years of training.

For all my grumbling, I lead a charmed life compared to the average high-school teacher. And I feel deeply sorry that some of our graduates...See MoreTo those of you who have experienced the most challenging of behavior problems, the following excerpt from an article "Remedial Civility Training," by Thomas Benton, from The Chronicle of Higher Education, may reassure you that you are not alone, and that the behavior is not your fault. If you have not been subjected to this behavior, consider yourself fortunate. Benton writes:

"I am sometimes sent to observe new high-school teachers and am usually shocked by what I see. Those teachers -- bright, idealistic, hopeful -- are sometimes treated with such open rudeness that it seems as if they have become objects of ritual abuse -- scapegoats for undisciplined adolescent rage. It doesn't surprise me that attrition rates for teachers are so high: teaching requires a kind of moral strength that few possess without many years of training.

For all my grumbling, I lead a charmed life compared to the average high-school teacher. And I feel deeply sorry that some of our graduates are sent into what is little better than what I would expect to see in a prison: students who mumble lewd, racist, and homophobic remarks about the teacher and other students; who furtively destroy school property; and who engage in petty acts of violence and intimidation just outside of the teacher's field of vision. Perhaps teachers pretend not to see most of what happens because they have come to believe there is nothing they can do about it -- and students play at forcing their reactions, stepping repeatedly to the edge of open defiance.

What is it like for students to spend a dozen years in such places? What does it do to children's sense of curiosity to learn that any expression of shared interest with a teacher will subject them to verbal and physical abuse?

Like prisoners, they learn that the safest thing to do is keep your head down and not attract attention. Currying favor with teachers will only get you into trouble: the adults will not protect you; they will pretend not to see when someone hits you; they will pretend not to hear when someone calls you an obscene name. They will not be there after school when the other kids come after you. Better to cultivate the support of your peers by signifying your contempt for the institution in which you are all trapped."

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