Opus 2014-325: The Biggest Problem in Education

I am sure I have mentioned it before but recently it has been beating me in the face.  The hardest thing for me to take as a teacher is the drop-of-the-hat dishonesty of the students I work with.  You would think it might be violence or administrative foolishness.  In reality, I have never felt any fear on campus and I have learned to work around administrators. 

No, what stops my roller coaster is the way a student will look at you with total innocense and say, “I don’t have any gum in my mouth.”  This could be technically the truth.  It might be a spit wad they are working on.  This could be a manufactured truth.  They might have quickly swallowed the gum.  It could be a conditional truth.  They may have slipped the gum into their hand.  Since they know what I am talking about, it is still a lie.

They lie to protect a piece of chewing gum.  It can even be hanging out their mouth and they will lie.  It does not bother them.

This is just a low hanging fruit.  It could be that I asked them if they turned some homework in.  They will usually say, “Yes.”  Only when I go to check will they change their story.  When sent by an administrator or another teacher to see if they can be out of class that day, they invariably say, “Mr. Admin says you are supposed to send me to their room.”  Use your imagination.  If you can imagine it, they will lie about it.

To be honest they learned this from the adults in their lives.  It starts with their parents.  Just on what I see and hear in parent meetings gives me a clue to what happens at home.  Then they get to school and soon begin to realize that they can’t really believe what the school tells them either.  It could be something as blatant as denying a promise that was made.  It is prevalent in the announcements made about policy and the law and then totally disregarding the statement.  It can be giving the idea that everyone needs algebra in the eighth grade. 

They see it in their entertainment.  It has been a long time since I have watched TV but I would guess that the main characters are still regularly telling lies and the laugh track is reminding you it is supposed to be funny.

They see it in their politicians.

Lies are destructive.  That is why God chose honesty as one of the final ten rules.

(Exodus 20:16 KJV)  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Short and sweet.  Worthy to repeat.

homo unius libri