Accountability

I know, I know...I must be getting old, because I'm sounding like my parents. But I can't help but contemplate the changes between my generation and the students I currently teach. Don't get me wrong...I have a handful of truly wonderful students (and they definitely outnumber the tough kids). But I had a situation last week that is still getting under my skin.

I have a student with chronic attendance issues; when he is at school, he comes with chronic behavior issues. I had to remove him from my room last week. The teacher he went to "visit" on time-out had him write an apology to me. It went to the effect of:

"Dear Mrs. Music (couldn't even use my name),

I think you are stupid. You are rude and mean and I'm not sorry. You roll your eyes at me, and I didn't do anything wrong, so I rolled mine back."

This particular letter went with a referral to the principal. I'm not going to use this forum to view my opinions of how the situation was handled, but I will say that when I later spoke to the principal, I asked when I could expect an apology for his disrespect in the classroom and in the letter. I was told, "you'll probably never hear it."

Which leaves me wondering, where is the accountability for our young people? When do they have to answer for their actions? Aren't we doing them a disservice by not having clear expectations at school and home?

This is just one situation. I have students who will walk past me in the halls when I ask them a question, refusing to make eye contact. Things like making eye contact and speaking when spoken to seem to be a dying art. Yet, these are such simple things that go a long way to showing others that they are valued and respected.

People ask me what I teach, and the obvious answer is music. However, I'd like to think that I'm teaching students about life, and I use music as the avenue. It's weeks like this that make me wonder if I'm even on the right track.