respect, or respeck

i can't count the number of times i've had a student do something inappropriate, and then when i walk up to them to calmly ask them to change their behavior, they yell at me as if i've done something wrong. i swear i'm not being confrontational, even in some fucked up kid's slanted world view, i'm not doing anything that could be viewed in that light. even better, they tell me to calm down while they're yelling and screaming and i'm talking to them in a low voice. it just happened yesterday, and again today.

also beyond counting is the number of times i've heard my students say, "someone gives me respect, i give them respect. they disrespect me, i disrespect them." they must be parroting that incredibly stupid nonsense from their incredibly stupid parents, or something, right? where do they get that idea? i want to know how some of these kids think they have ever been in the position to be owed respect. the ones that say this aren't the good ones either - they're the kids who have never done anything to merit respect from anyone.

and whatever, let's not even get into the teacher-student relationship, or what it should be, or what it is in longmeadow and what it is here, and so on. they can get away with that stupid fucking chip on their shoulder in schools because we have so much worse things to discipline. but they won't be in school for the rest of their lives. we are required to teach them and tolerate their behaviors. it's not the same "out in the real world."

the saddest part, because i do feel sadness for these kids, not anger or dislike, but the saddest part is that these children will grow up to be "adults" who think that the world owes them everything. welfare and all these social assistance programs only validate that feeling of entitlement, too, and will for the rest of their lives. and that's another debate too. but anyways, there is no way these types of students will get a job with an actual boss, because as soon as they do the slightest wrong (which is a certainty), their boss will say something - however innocuously - and that kid will believe they are being disrespected instead of being given the respect they are somehow due, and here come the self-destructive fireworks!