every battle

Early in me education career I was told that I would need to "pick my battles." And though I would have to do that in order to make education sustainable, there is no world in which I look at a student making a inappropriate choice in my classroom and ignore that behavior. I really believe that letting bad behavior slide because it "isn't the chosen battle" is why we have so much violence, tardies and absences, belligerent outbursts, cheating, drug use, smoking/vaping, missing work/failing classes - I could go on, but you get the point. If that behavior is not one admin's or teacher's "battle" then the behavior is allowed to continue, students are then offended when a different admin or teacher addresses it, and more students follow in suit with delinquent behavior, because other people are not getting in trouble for it. 

I think the phrase "pick your battles" is perfectly appropriate when raising children. Debating as to whether a toddler needs to wear real shoes to town or if they can wear their house slippers like they want, might not be a battle that the parent wants to fight. Does it really matter or not?

At the high school level, with almost 1400 students, we aren't debating the weather to dress ratio or the cookie before lunch argument. We are talking about enforcing policies that were determined by stakeholder to be delinquent behavior. And if the policies need updating, we update them. Every new stakeholder has been giving a copy of these policies. These policies keep our school safe and secure. We don't pick and choose which of these to follow. Every policy is a battle worth fighting, by every admin and teacher. Stop telling me to pick my battles because it isn't worth the time and effort.
Stop telling me to stop addressing bad behaviors. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

misconception of failure

So I am talking to a friend the other day who is in quite a difficult spot right now. Her family is falling apart, abusive to her, publically humiliates her, and generally makes her life miserable. She is a new Christian. They are not. You can see the Spirit working in her as she has such a passion for showing them the life she has come to know. But it never seems to make a difference and at the end of the day she is discouraged. "...maybe I should have said something different..." "...maybe I provoked it..." "...it is so hard to be a change when I am right back in the situation where everything was so awful..." "...I feel like such a failure..." These are the things she says to me. And I relate and sympathize with all of them. However, last time we were talking about this, the Holy Spirit put into words what I have been trying to learn for so very long. When I think that I am a failure and that the Lord can't use my fumblings, I ...
Read more

tidying

I want to have a space where I fit comfortably, both body and mind. I do not feel that I have ever experienced any significant level of comfort from my environment. Of course, like most people, I do own a couple of items that always make me feel better in a 'security blanket' manner. However, it is always a struggle to find them in the midst of the crowded atmosphere that has always been my house. Unnecessary stressors significantly outnumber the happy items. Maybe this is due to the lack of cleanliness and/or the excess items that surround me, and the people I have lived with, but regardless as to why, I never thought my house could be a source of pleasure, comfort, and energy. But maybe it can. I want to have a space where I fit comfortably, both in body and mind. For the first time, I have my own place, for Husband and me (yay us!!). Perhaps we can make our house a happy place. I want our belongings to be important and to fit comfortably within our home. No more forcing....
Read more

yourself and others

My little sister has always seemed older than her years. Life is very simple to her and even the most complex of situations are black and white -- and she knows she's right. Though usually her insite lacks a comprehensive understanding of circumstances, sometimes her causal comments are worthy of considerable thought. A particularly provoking comment arose while she listened to me stress about staying in contact with relatives and friends. There were phone calls I hadn't returned, emails to which I hadn't replied, and 'thank you' cards that I hadn't mailed. She speaks to me in the fashion of a old sage who is slightly dumbfounded by the young ones lack of understanding. "Sissy...there is always someone else to call." She wasn't referring to my endless list of relatives and friends that were deserving of my attention. She was referring to my relatives and friends -- that they were the 'someone else' who could call me. Her wo...
Read more