If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Maya Angelou
I love this quote from the famous Renaissance (sic) poet and author Maya Angelou. I love it because I apply it every day with recalcitrant students who voice their discontent toward a teacher or a class. “Can you change it?” “No, so you must change.”
Easier said than done; there is a natural resistance in so many kids toward change and toward objects they dislike. Many are so used to get what they want that they actually demand satisfaction from their teachers. Naturally, the consequences are not pleasant or beneficial for these students.
Case in point: “I want the special dance class instead of PE” (which is fine since they both get the same credit). Done, the next day the student starts dancing or rather learning how. A week later, the same teen comes to me, her folder teacher, and demands, yes, demands that I change it again because she found it too difficult.
In spite of my arguments that she needed more time and effort, she absolutely refused to stay and started skipping that period. Yes, Maya Angelou, they should change their attitude and accept that effort is needed to become good at anything. You did, and look where it got you, to the pinnacle of American literature. Could you please come to my high school and talk to them about your tribulations?
A good strong motivational speech would be nice; alas, I know it won’t happen, but I really feel that some personalities outside athletes, these can’t speak well anyway in public, should visit middle and high schools regularly to stimulate them in doing their best. It should actually be mandatory for schools to invite on a regular basis local and state leaders in various professional fields to talk to the youngsters.
How else are we going to connect the community and its activities with our school children? Yes, we have visiting cops sometimes impressing young kids with cool uniforms and menacing looking pistols on their gun belts. But that’s not sufficient, not by a long shot. If parents neglect to communicate and impart important values to their sons and daughters, then the school must take over and do the job for them.
It is still possible to easily influence young minds between the ages of 5 and 15; after that, it becomes much more difficult. Let us work harder to prevent the teen mothers, the use of drugs, and the occasional teen delinquency and criminal behavior. If we drilled the need to use discipline and sacrifice in order to gain knowledge, skills, and social acceptance in kinder and elementary, perhaps our students would do better in high school, the all-important transition stage to adulthood.
Instant gratification seems to be the norm, at least in my part of the educational world. Not just among students either, no, our own society promotes a selfish attitude; our TV screens are full of ads offering such tantalizing products right now. “Buy now, order now, don’t wait, have your credit card ready, limited offer, while supplies last, one-day offer, etc.”
So why would we expect our children to be different? Why should they, by themselves, chose effort and sacrifice when they can obtain what they want, when they want it. Sex in schools? But of course. The 16-year old confessed that she was living with her boyfriend of the same age, as if this were the most natural thing in the world. I suspect a great percentage of teens don’t wait for adulthood to engage in drinking and sexual activity, based on what I hear every day in high school.
Change attitude? Sorry, Maya Angelou, our youth seems to be heading in a different direction.
