Last night, Sonia and I met with the boys' teachers for parent conferences. The principal sat in on these meetings. Antonio had recently gotten into trouble for being disruptive during one of the class lessons. He was flat out ejected from the room. It wasn't anything serious, just a silly kid being a silly kid. But still, I wasn't looking forward to this being brought up during the conference, knowing I might get defensive and look like "that parent" who defends his child's crappy behavior.
The principal caught me completely off guard with her response to it...
As Antonio's teacher gingerly brought it up, my heart beat a little faster. Then, out of nowhere, the principal interjected...
"Good for him," she said with a grin. "It's one thing if you're constantly getting in trouble, but if you've never been thrown out of a room before, I would think you're being too passive. And you're not pushing boundaries. Besides, it's how you learn lessons."
While this certainly fit in perfectly with the narrative I'd already created in my head about how I didn't think this one incident "was a big deal," it was refreshing to hear someone in her position recognize the upside of an act normally so identified with "bad."
It immediately took me back to the one time I was tossed from class. I was a Junior in high school, and the gym teacher was a massive douchebag. Everyone knew it. But on that particular day, I wasn't willing to tolerate it. He was condescending with me, so I gave it right back to him. The entire class laughed at his expense; he was far from pleased. I was sent to the office and spoke with the Vice Principal, who, without saying so, made it clear to me that he was painfully aware of said gym teacher's douchebaggery. I was given one day of detention and placed in a different class for the remainder of the semester. Considering it was the only time I was ever ousted, my parents were fine with it. Apparently, they too subscribed to the good principal's theory on the passive student.
Here's hoping Antonio's days of being thrown out like Wally Backman are few and far between. But truth be told, I'd rather he was a hard-working student who crossed boundaries once in a while than the wallflower who never tried anything different.
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