Hello, friends.
Have you seen the news? I haven’t. Not really. Why bother? I will stay informed in small doses but mainly I can’t bear the shitshow.
This past week has been all sorts of crazy with basketball practices, teaching, Open House, and trying to get through life. I’m going to write about something that happened to me on Friday and talk a little about it. I’m not going to hold back except where it’s needed.
Anyway, let’s get do this week’s updates.
Welcome to the 97th installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and student–and their parents–run amok.
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Anyway, let’s do this!
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I got to page 332 in The Ghosts in the Eyes this week. The story is still in 1973 and it’s heading into a tense point. I’m still enjoying the hell out of the book and can’t wait for my beta-readers to get their hands on it. This past week I had to write about the dissolution of a relationship, which I wanted to make sure I took my time on. Another is coming, along with more bad stuff. I’m nearly halfway through the novel, which is exciting. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to work on it Friday or Saturday night. Basketball practice Friday and G wanted to play a family game Saturday night.
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This past week, I had a student yell and swear at me. Another student had been taunting her, I guess, and she began yelling at him as I helped a different student. When I turned around to calm her down she said, essentially, “Get outta my face!” I did not take kindly to this and basically said, “Hey! Calm down.” I said this in my most soothing voice. “Calm down?! Calm down?! It’s not fuckin’ fair…” and fuck this and fuck that.
Well, I said, “That’s it. You’re out.”
And began the process of writing the student up.
I needed to leave the room to cover another teacher but also because my own temper was rising and I didn’t want to say something that’d get me in trouble.
It was handled and will be handled.
When I saw another teacher who was there today she told me the girl, who I guess seemed apologetic, said, “In middle school, I’d tell the teacher to get outta my face and they did.”
This last part is what pushed me to write about this, which I’d already thought about. Because I don’t see this incident as entirely the student’s fault. If she were the only one to be as rude as that, maybe, but this particular group had a bunch of rude students who didn’t change their behavior even when they were asked and then threatened with consequences. They’d stop but then a new teacher would come and they’d start up.
This is learned behavior. This is because they’ve never really had consequences. This is because parents have run amok.
I know I’ve written about this before but it’s a true issue I’m seeing. The girl felt like she could yell and swear at me because no adult has ever done anything about her doing this. Chances are that her parents would probably yell at me that I did something wrong by addressing her outburst.
For years I’ve seen good students being held hostage by bad students, or students who just can’t do the work. If the student fails, if the student gets in trouble, the question from admin to parents is often, “What did you do to stop the situation?” Or, “What did you do to stop them from failing?”
My job isn’t to stop them from failing. My job isn’t to teach them etiquette or how to behave. My job is to teach them what they’re in my classes to learn. I will help them but there comes a point when the student needs to actually do the work. If they will not or cannot do the work, then they should be removed and put someplace that can help them.
I know that’s not what people want to hear and it pains me to even think it, never mind write it, but it’s true.
Parents need to understand this. Sally Field’s character in Forrest Gump was wrong. Forrest should not have been in that school. He got through everything by happenstance and while it’s a nice fantasy, that’s what it is, a fantasy. In the real world, I see students who are hurt by this fantasy that they can do anything. Both the student whose parent forces them to continue and the students in the classed with them.
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I’m still interested in what people think about me revising the essays I’ve written about the Nightmare on Elm Street movies. Right now, it seems like the interest is in me publishing the essays as a book. I’d have to find a publisher or do it myself. We’ll see.
If you haven’t taken the poll, why not?
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That’s it for today. Thank you for reading and for your support!
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Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com 
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