Discipline Demands a Sense of Humor

How amazingly disappointing it is to read news reports of teachers who fall back upon abuse as a form of classroom management. Then again, how encouraging it is to see that these cases are increasingly rare, and when they do occur they become sensational. No longer is physical punishment a part of the daily routine of most teachers.

The most recent escapade in cruelty involved a primary school teacher who was accused of "inappropriately disciplining his third-grade students" with methods ranging from having the kids vote for the least popular classmate, calling the children "losers" and "scum," and mocking their parents. This follows relatively swiftly on the heels of a story about another primary school teacher who lost his temper after a male student threw a paper airplane at a girl in class. The teacher allegedly slapped the boy at least 20 times, stopping only when the boy broke into tears.

I am unsure which tale of brutality is worse, though I suspect the most recent revelation is more disturbing because it does not suggest a loss of temper or a poorly controlled fit of rage, but a teacher who has obviously been going through a long process of professional disillusionment and burnout. This instructor's verbal abuse, if proven to be true, reveals a man trapped in a job he hates, working with students he has come to loathe. This teacher deserves our pity, not our condemnation. He needs guidance, therapy, and a friend who can encourage him toward a career change.

Changing careers is never easy, the choice being made more difficult by considerations of pension and training. But if this teacher's personal emotional problems are not dealt with, he will spend the rest of his life in misery, and his unhappiness will continue to manifest itself as a meanness that will damage the psyches of his students. That would be a real tragedy, for as third graders they are still quite innocent and capable of being molded into individuals whose spirits are guided by love, compassion, curiosity, and a desire for all good things of beauty and light.

I was much surprised that a good number of online essays resulting from a Google Search of the term "Discipline in the EFL Classroom." A rough perusal of these offerings suggests the advice that every experienced and qualified instructor would give: set the rules at the start of the class, and keep reminding students of what is expected of them; keep your classes fast-paced and interesting; control your temper and call upon your good sense of humor, etc.

This last bit of advice is especially relevant, especially when I consider the case of the junior high art teacher who found himself the brunt of a satirical piece of student art depicting him as a horned devil. The teacher demanded a "sincere apology" before he would be willing to remove the demerit from the young girl's permanent record, but the student denied the drawing of the horned man was of the teacher. I can understand the teacher's anger, which is driven more by the student's refusal to accept accountability and offer a sincere apology. (At least this teacher is not forcing the student to print an apology in the local newspaper, as happened in China some weeks ago.) The case of the art teacher makes me wonder if the incident could have been handled more properly with a sense of humor.

Maybe it is the stress and disappointment of the job that causes us to take ourselves a wee bit too seriously, but at the end of the day we've got to push it all aside with a smile and be grateful that we are in such a wonderful profession. 

I definitely can see the need for a class in how to handle stress and burnout. Hopefully I can advance this idea as a top priority when my colleagues at National Ilan University's Graduate Program in Foreign Languages & Literature begins shaping its new curriculum later this year. From the look of things taking place on the ground, we need to talk less about "theory" and focus more on the battles that we face every day as teachers.