The Difference That Counts
   


Submitted by Tara Ganse 
Quartz Hill High School 
Quartz Hill, California 

Current Teaching Assignment: 
9^th Grade Integrated Physical Science and 11 ^th & 12^th Grade GeoScience

Past Teaching Assignments:  9-12 Grade English

In a perfect world, all parents would teach and model appropriate choices and behavior to their children. In that perfect world, other adult role models such as teachers, religious and civic leaders, and sports stars would have a fairly small role in the moral development of our nation’s youth. But this is not a perfect world and too often these days, parents neglect their most basic and primary duty: to teach their child to be a “good” person.

          When the phone rang, I answered it. If I had known what the ensuing conversation would be like, I might not have picked it up.

          “Ms. Ganse? I’d like to talk with you about the after school detention that you assigned my son,” came the voice; it was full of anger and contempt.

          In the next thirty minutes, I became fully aware of just how desperate the situation is in the homes of many of my students. This mother was irate that I would hold her son accountable for being disruptive and require him to stay after school because it inconvenienced her to have to pick him up since he would not be able to take the bus. When I told her about the rude and disruptive outbursts that repeated warnings had not stemmed and that I demand respect in my classroom, she replied, “You can’t expect students to behave that way! That’s asking too much.”

          I wish I could say that this parent’s behavior and views are unusual, but they’re not. I dread having to call students’ parents these days. I seem to recall a time when students feared “the call home” because they knew they were going to hear about it from their parents. Now I call home and hear the same sort of excuses that I hear from my students. I guess I understand where the poor behavior and shady morals come from, and it saddens me. My students are good kids. They just need someone to stand up and fill that necessary role.

          So who is to take up the slack? For children whose parents are not good role models, the next best substitute may be an adult family friend or the pastor in their church, but the most common adult children see besides their parent is their teacher. This indisputable fact leads to some heavy responsibility being laid on teachers these days. While I may be able to sit back and consider what society as a whole should do to mitigate the problem, I choose to consider what I personally – as a teacher – may do because it is something that I have control over.

          While I believe that when every child is born, certain traits and characteristics are hard-wired, I think that even more importantly is the environment in which children are brought up. Poor home lives can negatively impact children in profound ways and can overwhelm the natural inclination most children have to want to please and not hurt those around them. This innate conscience leads children to want to improve themselves and look toward the best role model they can. I think that a good role model can overcome a poor one, and I am immensely grateful that this is the case. I think that by exhibiting the most compassionate, responsible, and understanding behavior possible to my students, I make a difference. By being a good role model – that is by demonstrating consideration of myself and others and how my behavior and choices impact others – I make a difference.

Many students are unaware of the harsh realities of the world outside their home. Parents of today try to shelter their children too much. They shelter them from the emotional discomfort of doing something wrong and feeling badly about it.  They shelter them from feeling like their decisions may have hurt other people. I suppose many decline to discipline their kids and hold them accountable thinking that they are protecting them; they are not. The parents who have left their children to their own devices to develop their own ethics and sense of responsibility are bound to have trouble and be at a disadvantage. Besides having good role models, children need to be taught limits and responsibility by someone. If parents refuse to take on this responsibility, someone is obligated to do so. Teachers must teach students the limits of their classroom and when they are crossed, the teacher has a moral responsibility to follow through with the appropriate consequence. Learning to identify and accept the negative consequences of one’s poor choices is the most basic step in developing moral compunction.

In the spring of 2001, I read a revealing article in American Educator entitled, “Parenting: The Lost Art.” This article clearly illustrates one of the most pressing problems we teachers see today when dealing with the parents of our students. Many parents are so concerned about being their children’s friends that they forget how to be their effective parents. This article calls them “peer-parents.” The belief many parents hold that they are simply there as a “guide” to their children is well illustrated by a mother referring to her young teenage son. She claimed that, “They [the kids] have to make decisions, whether to take drugs, to have sex… I can give them my opinion, tell them how I feel. But they have to decide for themselves.” While this may be true to a certain extent as a child approaches full adulthood, too often parents abdicate their decision making job way too early. Most children are not capable of making informed, mature decisions on their own until they are out of high school. They are very capable of forming the principles guiding appropriate, moral behavior, but they are inexperienced in the application of these principles and need an adult to help them work through this difficult time.

Piaget developed a theory of the cognitive development of children. He theorized that during adolescence children typically move from concrete to formal operative thinking. During the concrete operational stage, children have trouble forming abstract ideas and considering situations with more than two variables. As children move into formal operative thinking, they develop the ability to think reflectively and can better consider how their behavior is affecting themselves and others. However, Piaget also completed research that suggested a child’s social environment affects the age at which this transfer occurs. I believe that today’s children, by watching too much television and not having enough interaction with morally responsible adults, are not making the transition as early in life. The longer children remain in the concrete operative stage, the more chance they have of being in a situation where they will make a poor decision because they are at a disadvantage cognitively. While I may not be able to affect what goes on in the home, I can help students progress toward the transition by stimulating their minds with complex questions and interactions, by making class an exciting and rewarding place to be, and by fostering interest in intellectual pursuits such as academics, hobbies and the like. The more stimulating my class is, the more my students grow and develop.

And lastly, for those children who have never or rarely seen a positive role model who also appears “real” or “normal”, I think they eventually come to the conclusion that you cannot have good moral standards unless you are a “goody-two-shoes.” There seems to be a misconception by many students that to be “good” means to be boring and not going anywhere in life, thus it is unappealing to them as something for which to strive. We need to change that perception by allowing our students to know us as people and as active members of society. Too often students view their teachers as unreal entities that do not struggle with the same moral dilemmas that they do. Good role models cannot preach about good morals. Living a moral life is much easier said than done. Teaching morals only by talking about them would be like trying to teach students how to balance chemical equations by never demonstrating the process on the board. A few kids may just “get it” but they would be in the minority. Teachers have to demonstrate morality by example to have the lesson be effective.

Ideally, parents would completely fulfill the role that is called parenthood. Some do fantastically, and I wish I could personally thank each and every one of them. Many do not, and I wish that I could instruct each and every one of them personally. Perhaps parents of today are merely ignorant; perhaps they are calling out for help. I am not in a position to be able to educate enough parents to make a significant difference, but I am in a position to reach their children. I can teach students responsibility and consideration of self and others, provide a stimulating environment, and share myself as a person who struggles with the same choices and dilemmas while being a positive role model. I take my role as an educator and all that it entails very seriously and I think I can make a difference.

1. Comment on the 6-year old with a telescope and his interest in abstract ideas. How unusual was he? Have you encountered students with similar focus and reasoning abilities? Discuss.

I don’t believe the abstract ideas and interests that the 6-year old with a telescope exhibited are unusual. Children have a natural innate curiosity about the world around them and tend to develop exquisite philosophies to explain it. The problem is that too many adults stifle this curiosity and creativity; the result is students that simply wait for adults to tell them what they should know and believe. I occasionally come across students that still have this natural desire to find explanations, but they unfortunately are few and far between by the time they reach high school.

2. Were you surprised to read that young children may be “ethically introspective citizens”? Discuss.

I was not surprised at all! In my experience most children are “ethically introspective.” While young children may not be experienced enough to always make “ethically” appropriate choices, they are experienced enough to consider the moral implications of their own and others choices and behaviors.

3. Do you agree that morality can be taught in all kinds of classes. Give examples from experience.

Morality is a quality that can be taught through example at any time in any situation. I do not necessarily feel that instructional time should be set aside to “teach” students about morality (and besides, I’m not sure it can effectively be taught in any way but by example), but a teacher should seize any opportunity in the classroom that presents itself to demonstrate and/or discuss appropriate morality with his or her students. One instance where this topic typically comes up in my class is over the concept of cheating. I believe that students consider their behavior in this regard more completely when a teacher engages the class in a discussion of why copying homework or sharing answers on a test are inappropriate versus just telling them that they will get in trouble if they are caught.

4. What was meant by the phrase encountered in your required reading: “We are all moral witnesses”? Describe an instance in the classroom when you were a moral witness.

Being a moral witness means actively participating in the continually evolving and changing moral code of society. When people engage in meaningful introspection and/or discussion about whether a behavior is moral or not, they are acting as witnesses in the court of societal change. As a teacher, I consider myself a facilitator in encouraging all of m students to be moral witnesses. When I taught English I would do this by calling their attention to moral dilemmas that are not clear cut in literature and ask them to take a stand and justify their position. In my science class, environmental issues are typically good starting grounds for asking students to consider the complex issues of moral versus immoral activities.

5. Define courage. Tell of a youngster who has had the courage to stand up for his/her beliefs/values.

Courage is a trait that is demonstrated by individuals when they make a conscious decision to maintain their values or actions under danger of criticism, ostracism, or actual physical harm. Courage can be strikingly demonstrated by teens who happen to be in a time of their life when social acceptance is so important. In my first year of teaching I had a girl in my class who was severely developmentally disabled. For the first few days, the class practically ignored the girl and I was concerned that some of those discrete whispers in the back of the classroom were snide remarks about her. I was fairly inexperienced with this sort of situation and knew that any comments that I made, as an authority figure, would have little bearing on what was said when I could not overhear. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when a couple of days later one of the more outgoing and “popular” girls in my class walked up to the disabled girl and introduced herself and began talking with her. For the first couple days, this girl who went out of her way was the butt of no few jokes by her peers, but as time went by without her changing her attitude, I started to see the rest of the class considering their behavior more closely and eventually following her lead. It was great to see her determination to ignore the jibes and jeers of her peers while continuing to do what she thought was right.

6. Comment on the discussion on courage that took place during a 4^th grade history, as outlined in the required reading. Share an experience where your class spontaneously engaged in a moral analysis.

In the reading, the author expresses “incredulity” that “an elementary school child shows a capacity for probing moral analysis that encompasses the very nature of a belief… in this case, the value is courage.” I think, in general, that children are actually more capable of discussing what courage is because, in most cases, they still have not been tainted by the pessimism and cynicism of the realities of the adult world. At their age, they are still idealistic and can consider courage – or other values – is their purest forms. I teach in a fairly suburban school but come from rural roots. On one particular occasion, my students got onto the topic of slaughtering animals for meat and whether this is a morally justifiable act. My students were fairly polarized regarding the topic, but in this case and others I find it encouraging that when students are provided with the time and consideration, they can quite capably justify their beliefs and values as they did in the forth grade class discussion regarding the courage of pilgrims.

7. How is a good person described at the end of the required reading involving A Bronx Tale?

A Bronx Tale defines a good person as one who not only observes and considers others morality but is attentive to their own thoughts and actions and how these may affect their future and the futures of those around them.

8. What should a teacher do when she/he sees a student trying to get another student in trouble or somehow disrupting the class?

During the moment that the disruption occurs in class, the teacher must maintain order in the same method that he or she normally would. This maintenance should involve an unemotional, pre-determined set of consequences that the teacher has already set forth. Teachers need to be prepared to react to student disruptions in a way that does not apply anger or hostility, just a calm, sure assertion of the teacher’s mature control of the classroom environment. In the case where a student is trying to get another into trouble, however, I believe the teacher should also ask the offending student to remain after class to discuss how their behavior negatively affects themselves and others. Additionally, the teacher needs to discuss with this student what the consequences of similar future behavior will be and then stick to it.

9. The Harry Singer Foundation pilot projects, Dream Machine, White Hats, and Problem Solvers are based on the premise that students have the capacity to act responsibly, interact with adults in the community, and make mature decisions. In light of the article by Shannon Brownlee regarding the development of the teen brain, do you think the Foundation may be giving teens too much credit?

No, I do not believe the Foundation is giving teens too much credit. When teens are held to high expectations, they tend to live up to them whether they are academic or moral responsibilities. Teens may not be capable of making the best decisions in all circumstances, but with the proper guidance they are definitely capable of doing the best that they can to be moral and responsible members of the community. Some students may struggle with making mature decisions because of their lack of experience, and this is when appropriate role models become crucial and can make all the difference in helping a child develop into a responsible and moral member of a community.

10. If you think your students are capable, will you engage a group in one of our pilot projects? If not, why not?

Whether I would be interested in engaging a group of my students in one of the Singer Foundation’s pilot projects depends on further information I would receive about the projects. The information that I have read so far was a fairly basic overview. At this point in my career, I do not feel that I would be capable of participating in a project that was time or labor intensive, but I would be interested in receiving more information before making a decision.           
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