Last night I read Darla's blog about students destroying the campus. It made my heart hurt. I was so sad that I couldn't even think of how to respond. As I tried to this morning, it turned into a blog.
Part of me thinks vandalism is a phase but we had to fight it this year in fourth grade. However, I have to disagree with Cryssy. It will not downward spiral from here. The hope that I have is that children (and even adults), are like dogs....we can all be trained. As humans we are innately selfish but we can learn to think beyond ourselves. The about the Greatest Command. We have to be told to love other people because it does not come naturally for us. It takes time and lots of frustrating work but we can teach people how to behave and respect. I have parents come talk to me about their children and they are trying so hard to work with their kids behaviourally and academically. One thing that they constantly say is, "I was difficult in school/at home when I was their age but I am different now. I know what my parents and teachers went through. They were right, I do understand now." I think until we break the selfishness of adolescence, destruction will be a problem but they will learn that there is another way. Maybe for their kids but also for themselves. Some may take involving the law but they will learn. This is one of the lessons that I have finally learned as a teacher this year. No matter how hard it may be for us, we can teach a child how to behave. We may want to pull our hair out at times but we can do it.
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zdI agree that everyone can be taught, but fewer and fewer parents are going to care enough to instill those principles. The number of caring parents is really going to get worse and not better as populations explode and the vicious cycle of bad parents raising bad parents raising bad parents continues. Why else do we need metal detectors and such? Gabe's special ed coordinator at his public school had her room broken into and her computer stolen....in elementary school. Who knows if it was a kid or not, but the lack of respect is still there and will continue to get worse. I have two brother in laws that are in and out of jail on a regular basis and they had horrible "parents" (for lack of a better term). Only Christ can break this cycle as we've learned in our own family. Yes, we can all be taught (or Tony wouldn't be such a wonderful husband and father) but fewer are going to be taught. Minus a huge revival...
Having gone through the teens years up close and personal I know that this can be a phase. And also, it is a miniority of people who are doing this damage.
BUT drug use in our school is up. Vandalism is up. Disrespect is up. Teacher referrals are up. What I am observing is the low economic sense of fatalism in my area.
Now I am SURE that my mailbox was just a prank. Probably an end of school prank. We have an adult living in our community now, a respectable adult who was a maniac on mailboxes when he was in high school. Our mailbox was the victim at least once. AND he grew up and grew out of it.
So there is hope.
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