24 October, 2007 | Leave a Comment
Random movie line to describe my mood: Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue…
You know, there are days when I don’t think of myself as a teacher, but rather as a referee between dueling groups of Russians. The class I teach is divided between Russian and Chinese students mostly. The Chinese students do their work and don’t give me any guff. The Russians, meanwhile, are a handful. They talk continuously throughout class. They try to tell me how to do my job. Today I gave the class a vocabulary test and the Russian boys were betting one another money to see who’d get the highest score on the test. And they were totally trash talking each other before the test. In all my years as a student and a teacher, I’ve never seen anything like it.
It doesn’t help that these boys are mostly about 17 and living in a foreign country on their own. Today one of the Russian boys and a Russian girl got into a screaming match during class, since the boy thought the girl had insulted him. He threatened to punch her in the face after class, told her she’d be sorry, then told her to f— off. It was actually quite vicious. Threatening violence against anyone is wrong, but it’s even worse when a man threatens violence against a woman. Perhaps that’s a sexist idea, but that’s how I feel — it’s morally repugnant and will not be tolerated in my presence.
So this is when my miss-nice-gal approach to policing the class came to an abrupt halt. The students saw a side of me they’ve never seen before. They now know if they tell anyone to f— off or threaten anyone, they are out of the class and they will not be returning. Ever. There will be no more 10-minute bathroom breaks that last for an hour; there will be no more talking throughout class; there will be no more joking in Russian behind my back. If they want to engage in this behavior, they’re out the door and in the director’s office.
I’m sure they won’t respect me until I actually have to enforce this zero tolerance policy, which will probably happen the next time we have class. I’m not looking forward to it. I don’t enjoy this aspect of my job and it’s not something I’ve had to deal with before. It’s upsetting to me; I don’t like this sort of conflict and I don’t like being mean or losing my cool. I should have been more forceful at the beginning of class and perhaps it wouldn’t have escalated in such a way. I’m letting the Chinese students down, since I can tell they are intimidated by the Russians (who out-number them). Gee, this must be what it’s like to work at the UN.
Anyway, I am leaving London for a few days. I must go into hiding now that the Russians are after me. No, no, no, that’s not the reason. I have other business to attend to!
Anglofille said @ 11:34 pm | academia |
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Anita Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 1:58 amSo you had a good day, huh?
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Rebecca Says:
October 25th, 2007 at 10:50 amSomething tells me that this is an experience you need. It’s sad, but no matter what class you teach in the future, and to what mix of students, you’re going to have to put your foot down and show them you’re in charge. I think the more times you do it, the easier it becomes and the better at it you are.
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Sounds you have the kids from hell!
I agree with Rebecca.
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Gadfleye Says:
October 26th, 2007 at 8:42 pmYes Anglofille, you are a figure of Nixonian stature playing the Chinese and Russian camps against one another to see who will receive the highest grades. Now if you can blackmail the
Middle Eastern students into studying more with the threat of siphoning the gas out of their cars, you will be a figure of Bushonian stature. -
Gadfleye is just TOO funny!
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gadfleye Says:
October 30th, 2007 at 2:43 pmThanks William
