'Do your work again, it's pathetic. How can you be so careless? ' said Mala to her student, Rishi of Grade 9 in front of the entire class. Rishi mocked her and that angered Mala even more. Immediately she took Rishi to the Principal's office and demanded that the Principal threaten him or else see her gone. The Principal looked at the boy and at the teacher. Rishi was regularly reprimanded by his teachers and felt it could be his fault again. Soon, he was punished in front of the entire school.
Rishi's friends on the way home came up to Rishi and gave him a high five. He had the guts to give back and he was not scared. He had become a local hero for them. Rishi's ego instead of taking a beating was now even more inflated. 'Who cared what these dumb teachers felt"? thought Rishi.
The situation worsened every week. First it was one teacher, now all the subject teachers felt exasperated by his behaviour. 'How do we manage him? How do we control him?'
Rishi's parents were called but to the dismay of the school, they too put up their hands and said that they could not control him. They sounded even more helpless than the teachers.
A long weekend was coming up and all the teachers were excited. Finally a break from the routine. Over the weekend, Mala had made many plans to socialize and watch few pending films on her list. She bought a ticket to watch 'Mission Impossible 6' and sat down to watch it when she heard a 'good evening Miss' next to her. She turned to her right and saw Rishi. Immediately she felt her blood pressure rising and got up from the seat to move to a vacant seat and in the darkness slipped. She let out a scream and saw Rishi rushing to help her. All the other movie goers in a minute moved back to their seats but Rishi came with her all the way to the doctor to help her. He rushed to bring her medicines, connected with her family to see her reach home safely and messaged her 'GET WELL SOON'. Suddenly she felt miserable, all the time she saw the black dot but why didn't she ever see the white canvas.
The next week Rishi was back to his pranks but Mala decided to ignore it. This time her only focus was looking beyond the facade and finding the person underneath. Rishi wasn't going to give in easily but Mala was even more firm with her mission to understand him. She was going to win him over and with the support of the entire staff within 3 months she could see the walls crumbling. Some students are easy, some tough but at the core, all are beautiful and wonderful.
At the end 'LOVE CONQUERS ALL'
Rishi's friends on the way home came up to Rishi and gave him a high five. He had the guts to give back and he was not scared. He had become a local hero for them. Rishi's ego instead of taking a beating was now even more inflated. 'Who cared what these dumb teachers felt"? thought Rishi.
The situation worsened every week. First it was one teacher, now all the subject teachers felt exasperated by his behaviour. 'How do we manage him? How do we control him?'
Rishi's parents were called but to the dismay of the school, they too put up their hands and said that they could not control him. They sounded even more helpless than the teachers.
A long weekend was coming up and all the teachers were excited. Finally a break from the routine. Over the weekend, Mala had made many plans to socialize and watch few pending films on her list. She bought a ticket to watch 'Mission Impossible 6' and sat down to watch it when she heard a 'good evening Miss' next to her. She turned to her right and saw Rishi. Immediately she felt her blood pressure rising and got up from the seat to move to a vacant seat and in the darkness slipped. She let out a scream and saw Rishi rushing to help her. All the other movie goers in a minute moved back to their seats but Rishi came with her all the way to the doctor to help her. He rushed to bring her medicines, connected with her family to see her reach home safely and messaged her 'GET WELL SOON'. Suddenly she felt miserable, all the time she saw the black dot but why didn't she ever see the white canvas.
The next week Rishi was back to his pranks but Mala decided to ignore it. This time her only focus was looking beyond the facade and finding the person underneath. Rishi wasn't going to give in easily but Mala was even more firm with her mission to understand him. She was going to win him over and with the support of the entire staff within 3 months she could see the walls crumbling. Some students are easy, some tough but at the core, all are beautiful and wonderful.
At the end 'LOVE CONQUERS ALL'
Great to read this, welcome to my thinking - we look at a problem, crib about it, criticize it BUT do not try to ask WHY this came into being? Who went wrong where, what did the environment do to cause the reaction. Reflect don't react only is the key! Kudos to Mala for reaching there.
ReplyDeleteMuy bien
ReplyDeleteA very good thought provoking post.
ReplyDeleteWhen teachers start relating instead of reacting on students unruly behaviour the battle is won.
Love them and they will love you back .
Very well written Kavita...how often we educators just label children ...we don't look into the reasons for their behaviour and give up too easily...
ReplyDelete