Teachers Rate an F in Communication

When was the last time you spent more than just a few minutes within the walls of your son or daughter’s school? Sure, holiday parties are coming up and many of us enter this unfamiliar territory to entertain the kids for an hour before we escape back into our safe non-school worlds. While we may love being there for our children, images of our own school days often come flashing back and we run for the parking lot as soon as possible.

But, if we swallow that uncertainty to take a step outside of our comfort zones and actually spend some time at school, what do you think you would find? Depending on where the school is located, you may find metal detectors, or police officers, or maybe you see boots and hats on kids in more rural areas. The location is not nearly as important as the level of education that is provided in the school. That education is delivered by those who sometimes can and other times cannot communicate effectively.

Having spent many hours in our local elementary school either volunteering or substitute teaching, I have noticed a common theme among certain teachers. There is a common belief that yelling at a child in front of others delivers the sought after result – obedience. What the teacher often fails to see is the look of hurt and humiliation on the face of the child as they walk away.

So, my question is – why is it necessary to humiliate a child in order to derive obedience in a school setting? We abhor bullies and we have strict policies against leaving children out of parties and the like, but when it comes to teachers we are simply to look the other way?

In the substitute teaching role, I have never experienced a time when it was necessary to yell or scream at a child in front of other children in order to get them to do or stop doing something. Have certain teachers never been taught how to use discretion when addressing an issue with a student? Or, does it not matter? Let me know your thoughts!