Monday, February 3, 2014

It's The Teacher's Fault? - Flashback Post

What do you do when you are fighting a battle that you think you can’t win? I am really in a bind with my teacher and I really don’t know what to do. I’m failing her class but at the same time I don’t get anything out of it.

Music to my ears ... sweet music. Sorry, had to get that out.

The first thing I need you to realize is that you can't win that battle against your teacher anymore than anyone can against their authority. Authority will always win when it comes to direct personal conflict. Any decent leadership structure should always protect the leader from insubordinate conflict. So I would strongly recommend that you do not attempt to correct or rebuke your teacher for what you feel she may be doing wrong. You will lose ...

Human nature seems to incline all of us towards the trait of vindicating our own actions by our intents while accusing others based on those same actions... so we tend to place the majority (or all) of the blame of any conflict we are in on the other person, especially if it is our leadership. After all, they have some nerve telling us what to do everyday while they themselves make mistakes, right? What gives them the right to tell us what to do when they don't have their own stuff together??? And that is the attitude that destroys us ... we all serve someone ...

The Bible gives strict guidance what to do when in conflict with "the establishments" we continually find ourselves in (like, say, school).


1Pe 2:13-20
13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men—16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God. 17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. 18 Servants, be submissive toyour masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the harsh. 19 For this is commendable, if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. 20 For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God.
Submission - it's a voluntary act that does not focus on exposing the flaws of the leader, instead it works to cover and protect them. Submission has no definition if both parties always agree. The Bible never gives any leader the authority to force the subordinates to submit ... it doesn't have to ... a leader will do that naturally. The word submit is always coupled with the personal pronouns (yourself, yourselves, etc).


Look at verse 15 ... it says that God desires us to "correct" those in authority over us by "doing good" and that our "doing good" will be what causes foolish people (regardless of their position or rank) to stop their foolishness. We are never given permission to correct our leaders ...

Look at vs 19 ... every day I have at least one student profess his or her innocence because I did not catch them in the very moment they were acting improperly. They refuse to address the 15 times they were told to be quiet or to get on task in the previous 5 minutes ... their quietless defense is their innocence right then and there... and that is usually the case.

God tells us to look at ourselves ... if we had any part of the faul, we own all of it ... and we need to go through it respectfully.

I strongly recommend you look hard at yourself. If you at any time during the instruction are texting, whispering to your buddy, daydreaming, etc ... then you own your problem ... it's yours. It does not matter how your teacher responds b/c there would be no incident to respond to.

If you don't care for the way the teacher teaches, you have the chance to learn a most valuable trait ... flexibility. Believe it or not, you are not a finished product. If no one stretches you, your relationship values will be very limited. Open the book, read the material. Learn to ask good questions that can have good answers. Pay attention ...

If you can truly say you do all of the right things, then it's time to bring a parent in. Any good leadership structure has policies for addressing concerns and grievances. If your teacher is insufficiently prepared, you can help her (and the many students who will continue to struggle if there is no change) by respectfully following those guidelines.

Word to the wise ... don't try to manipulate your situation by not telling your parents the complete truth (to include your wrond doings) because it will be worse for you. You may enjoy the first few minutes of seeing your teacher approached by your parents ... but almost all teachers keep some for of detailed records ... you will quickly find a foot up your rear end.

That's my take anyways ... awesome question.  So what are your thoughts?

QUESTIONS??
Don't be confused.  LEARN STUFF!!!
Email your questions to askthehaz@gmail.com
Ask your question, go to http://www.patrickhazard.com/ask-the-haz.html and fill in the question box!!!

(This flashback was originally posted here). 

No comments:

Post a Comment