The feeling of sounding like a broken record is one teachers are all-too-familiar with. Mathematicians may struggle with finding a number that accurately represents the times a middle school teacher has hushed chatty students or had to remind a young man to tuck in his shirt. In some ways, this constant reminding and training the habits of our students’ hearts and minds is unavoidable- in some ways it is the very core of our work as educators, so we should not expect to eradicate this experience from our professional lives.
That being said, it struck me recently that if we identified the most frequent points of disciplinary or culture-shaping discussion with students and then thought through brief responses or ways of talking about each of them, we might give more satisfactory answers and reasons to our students for why we insist on the things we insist on. If everyone in a school could speak about each of these key cultural policies in the same way, we might win more students to a shared understanding and agreement with these policies. If that becomes the case, then perhaps our proactive approach could help eliminate the feeling of playing an unending game of “whack-a-mole” in trying to respond to student behavior.
My attempt to do this with the seven most common behavior infractions in our school resulted in the following explanations. My hope is that our faculty communicating these things to our students using this shared language will result in a real unity of our students and faculty around our shared ideas that inform our school’s policies.
- Uniforms
Our uniforms serve two chief purposes: they identify our students with one another and with our school, and they prepare students to approach the weighty work of learning without distraction and with the appropriate seriousness..
To belong to this community of learners is a meaningful thing and can become an important component of each student’s identity as a member of our school. As such, we should encourage our students to take the uniform seriously. We are preparing them to live well with their freedom and in relationship with others. We must never flag in asserting the importance of this aspect of their education to their overall flourishing and happiness in life. Students should respect and honor their relationship to their fellow students, teachers, and this school community broadly; wearing the uniform correctly and proudly is a way of showing appropriate honor to the place they are in and the people who inhabit it with them.
Our uniforms also communicate our readiness and respect for the work of learning and teaching. They are elevated above the common clothing we might wear casually during other, less serious activities in our day, but they are not flashy or attention-grabbing. Wearing the uniform as intended helps put learning at the center of the classroom experience and should put students in the correct frame of mind to engage with such serious and elevated content.
- Gum
Gum-chewing is not a moral question, except in the sense that we have a policy against it at our school. That being the case, it is reasonable to expect students to object to this rule. After all, how could it be a detriment to their character or distract from learning? The response to these objections can be articulated very reasonably though, and in a way that most students even find satisfying.
Very simply acknowledge to the student that, yes, if every single student who ever chewed gum always disposed of it in the trash afterwards, gum would never be an issue. But the fact is that if one student is allowed, then all are allowed, and not every student will be as responsible as the one you happened to catch chewing gum in this imagined instance. Inevitably, with such a high number of gum-chewers on the campus, a certain percentage will lack the virtue necessary to dispose of their gum responsibly and then the beauty, cleanliness, as well as the function of our campus would be impacted for the worse. That is why we hold the line at no one being allowed to chew gum on campus.
This explanation also takes as a given that students at our school must abide by our policies. Therefore, imaginary student, spit it out and don’t do it again.
- Cell phones
This defense is quite simple and follows from our school’s first principles. We (teachers and students) are here for the purpose of teaching and learning. We come together in this place to do that work together because we believe that this work is done well when it is done in relationship with others. We are a community of learners and we enjoy the benefits of learning from and sharing with one another as we do this work together. Anything that draws us away from this community and its work, or which keeps us from fully entering into the work and relationship with others is a hindrance to our mission and must be removed. It takes thirteen years’ worth of close, uninhibited attention even to start wrapping one’s mind around the best of what has been thought and said in human history. There is a war for our students’ attention and we think the greatest books of our civilization deserve it the most.
We cannot do this perfectly, but wherever possible our goal is to orient our students toward each other and the content of their classes. Cell phones have many good and practical uses, but they are only hindrances to achieving our highest ends here in school.
- Hallway/passing period decorum
Orderly hallway behavior is as much about respect for other students and teachers (our school virtue of Courtesy) as it is about each student’s practicing the virtue of Self-Government. As in nearly all our policies and expectations, decorum in hallways matters because we are not on this campus alone. Inappropriate behavior – even in the hallway, even out outside of class time – disrupts the focus on learning for all students. We are all part of this community and each citizen of the school is entitled to the same respect and opportunity to be educated – protecting this right requires common courtesy.
Positively, as our students matriculate they are given increasing amounts of freedom throughout the school day. This freedom is a privilege as much as it is a test of and an opportunity to demonstrate Self-Government and show virtue without the prompting or direction of a teacher. If students object to the restriction of their freedom (by being put in line, perhaps) or to being corrected, they can be reminded of the fact that their freedom is a privilege and it is up to them as an individual to demonstrate the maturity and virtue necessary to keep it.
- Attention and posture in class
Attention and posture can sometimes seem like a conventional question more than a moral one, but this is not the case. This is presuming there are no extenuating circumstances (sleep deprivation, hunger, legitimate emotional distress, etc.) that would mitigate a student’s lack of attention, poor posture/attitude, or disruptive behavior.
Having an attentive, interested, and active posture in class is a matter of respect- for the teacher, fellow students, and for the material being learned. We tell our students that we are putting the highest and the best of human learning and achievement in front of them each day in our classes. Encountering these kinds of books, questions, and content demands respect and even reverence from our students that matches the same coming from our teachers as they present concepts to students. The fundamental virtue that leads students to pay attention often is not self-government, but humility. A humble student recognizes the value of the material of each class, acknowledges the efforts of the teacher setting it out for the students, and appreciates the experience of all others in the classroom. With this in mind, to not give proper attention is tantamount to disrespect toward all three. For these reasons, we expect students to be attentive, actively participating, and orienting themselves in a way that communicates interest, consideration, and even eagerness.
- Promptness to and preparedness for class
We also treat promptness and preparedness as matters of respect. Not being prepared to begin class at the bell, or showing up late to a class inevitably delays or disrupts the learning and teaching in any classroom. This policy can be defended easily on those grounds (very similarly to the defense of why students ought to be attentive and well-postured in class).
Additionally, it is helpful to give students a framework for thinking about how much “just a minute or two” really is in the context of a class. Presuming a student is only 1-2 minutes late (or at least causes that amount of a disruption to the class due to their tardiness/lack of preparation), if they were to do this persistently they would cost the class 10 minutes of instructional time every week. That is an hour and a half every quarter and a full 6 hours over the course of the year. In other words, student’ tardiness can deprive a class of a full week of class in a given class period over the course of the year, just by “barely” being late.
- Profanity and inappropriate language
The words we use say more about us than what we literally communicate with them in any given situation. With regard to profane, vulgar, or inappropriate language it is always unacceptable in our school for several reasons.
First, the core of our educational philosophy centers on language as a distinguishing and essential component of our humanity. Language allows us to learn, communicate, and exist within a community. This being the case, we are always seeking to expand, deepen, and elevate our students’ use of language, both academically and socially. Language which fails to do this, is not in line with our aspirations for our students’ minds or their character.
Second, as a K-12 school, every successive grade has the role of modeling good speech and conduct for those younger than them. Our speech then is not merely something which concerns ourselves and our character, but which actively impacts the formation of our peers and those looking to us as an example. For this reason, it is imperative that we all mutually uphold a commitment to speaking in a way that reflects our desire for good, true, and beautiful speech.
Finally, vulgar, profane, and inappropriate speech is common, uncreative, and lazy. We want our students to be exceptional, thoughtful, and hardworking, so their speech, and ours should reflect that desire.
