Seymour Flops
Diamond Member
Easy to go straight to inappropriate relations for that question. But there is another aspect, which is to what degree teachers should teach the "whole child."
Answer is that it depends on the child. Typical kid who shows up and does his work, participates, and has parents that send him to school ready and motivated to at least get by doesn't need much more from his teachers than explanations of the lesson and time to do them.
For special ed kids, as I work with, their needs are greater, and the teachers need to be aware of them. For kids with behavior disabilities, the teachers will get to know them much better.
Teachers need to know if a kid is coming to school hungry, exhausted from listening to parents fight, or other outside factors that prevent them from being ready to learn.
When I first started teaching in a small private school that specialized in kids with behavior problems, one of them said, "Mr. Flops, this school will never shut down. There's always gonna be fucked up kids."
He's right, and one other thing. I have rarely met a fucked up kid that did not have fucked up parents. Or sometimes one fucked up parent and one reasonable one who manages to wrest custody from and put distance from that one. Sooner or later, that parent comes back into the kid's life, and then the chaos of home is delivered on the school as well.
Yes, it is helpful for teachers to be aware of such things.
Answer is that it depends on the child. Typical kid who shows up and does his work, participates, and has parents that send him to school ready and motivated to at least get by doesn't need much more from his teachers than explanations of the lesson and time to do them.
For special ed kids, as I work with, their needs are greater, and the teachers need to be aware of them. For kids with behavior disabilities, the teachers will get to know them much better.
Teachers need to know if a kid is coming to school hungry, exhausted from listening to parents fight, or other outside factors that prevent them from being ready to learn.
When I first started teaching in a small private school that specialized in kids with behavior problems, one of them said, "Mr. Flops, this school will never shut down. There's always gonna be fucked up kids."
He's right, and one other thing. I have rarely met a fucked up kid that did not have fucked up parents. Or sometimes one fucked up parent and one reasonable one who manages to wrest custody from and put distance from that one. Sooner or later, that parent comes back into the kid's life, and then the chaos of home is delivered on the school as well.
Yes, it is helpful for teachers to be aware of such things.