Kids Who Don't Care

A few weeks ago I felt very depressed at the end of one particular day. I had had five classes comprised mostly of kids who simply did not care about their school work. I tried to get them to do the work their regular teacher had left for them, but most didn't do a thing. I was told bluntly by one student "I don't like you. We don't like substitute teachers."

I have been a substitute for more than two years now, so this kind of remark doesn't bother me. I just don't take it personally. Some substitutes make the mistake of taking comments like these to heart. I've even heard of substitutes who've left a classroom literally in tears because of student attitudes towards them. Being a substitute teacher is a tough profession. One has to develop psychic armor as strong as steel to withstand its challenges.

What depressed me was not the lack of respect for me, but knowing that many of these kids just don't see any connection between school and the rest of their lives. They have dislike and sometimes even contempt for school and learning. These kids don't know it but they are headed down paths that lead to terrible unhappiness.

In the case of the school where I teach, many of the students will eventually become either institutionalized -- in prison -- or dead at a very early age. It doesn't have to be that way. But how does one get through to them and make them realize that if they don't shape up, life will eventually be a lot tougher than what they're experiencing now.