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Dutchess_III's avatar

Are you ever forced to work with people who are untrained and who do far more harm than good?

Asked by Dutchess_III (47069points) March 28th, 2019

I used to substitute teach in the 90s. I recently got back into it almost full time. Something they have now that they didn’t have then are teacher’s aids out the wazoo.
Some of them are patient and helpful, but some of them are obnoxious and rude, verbally abusive to the kids (in my opinion.) We spend an entire semester in college on classroom behavior control, how to encourage the good and discourage the bad. We are taught to model the behavior we want the children to display. We are taught the importance of body language to convey authority and confidence. We are taught how important merely walking past a child can be, even if you don’t say anything to them. Or if a kid is talking while you’re telling the class something, stopping talking in mid sentence gets every one’s attention, everyone looks at you, including the kid who was talking. When he looks up you’ve pinned him with your eyes and just imperceptibly shake your head.
Never in there did they suggest that screaming at a kid, insulting them and belittling them is acceptable or effective BECAUSE IT ISN’T.
There is this one 4th grade class room that I’ve been in several times. The aid is a huge, obese cow and she screams at the kids and literally throws her weight around to scare the shit out of them. Monday she planted her fat ass in front of a kid, slammed her hands down on the desk, got in his face and screamed “YOU ARE IN FOURTH GRADE! STARTING ACTING LIKE A 4TH GRADER INSTEAD OF A BRATTY 2 YEAR OLD!!” Man I wanted to throw her out the door so bad. Thank God she was only in there for an hour, but for that hour, by God, she was gonna show me how it’s done.
I guess she figures if I’m not screaming I’m not in control (which is not true) so she’s going to scream for me. I guess she figures that if I’m using a normal, conversational voice to address a trouble maker I’m ineffective. Also not true.

I was in PE today. I had the class under control to my satisfaction. They were doing fine. But the aid just kept nagging and nagging at them over every little move they made. “Marcus! You need to look at the teacher when she’s talking to you! Marcus! Look at me when I’m talking to you! Marcus!” Nag nag nag. I kept having to stop talking because she kept talking. I just wanted to scream SHUT UP!!
I don’t know what the hell I can do about this, though. The regular teacher and the principal have to know.

Have you found yourself forced to work with incompetents but there was nothing you could do about it?

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9 Answers

ragingloli's avatar

Yes. The “Infected: Manus” mission.
3 of the other 4 people on the team had no idea what to do, and refused to listen to instructions.
You have to hack 3 consoles at the same time, you fucking numpties!

kritiper's avatar

You mean people in management??

Dutchess_III's avatar

That’s even worse! Yeah, I’ve had that too. This is especially hard because once I’m in a class room I consider those kids “mine.” And if some loud mouthed, abusive cow starts screaming at one of “my” kids it’s everything I can do to contain myself.
Of course if it literally WAS one of my children I wouldn’t contain myself. I’d have their heads.

Brian1946's avatar

@Dutchess_III

“And if some loud mouthed, abusive cow starts screaming at one of “my” kids it’s everything I can do to contain myself.”

What’s the Donna Trump who would be in the classroom doing this? A parent, teacher, or principal? Has this happened to you?

kritiper's avatar

I suppose we all have our beliefs about what is right and what is wrong. Do you know for a fact that you and your opinion are the one or the other??

Dutchess_lll's avatar

I don’t understand your question @Brian1946. Or yours for that matter kriptner. A teacher screaming at a kid, or insulting a kid, as a form of behavior modification is always wrong.
I just read something on a click bait site that echoes some of my experiences:
“We had a classroom aide who would scream at the kids until they cried and then actively mock them for crying.”

kritiper's avatar

I don’t believe that “A teacher screaming at a kid, or insulting a kid, as a form of behavior modification is always wrong.” Not always.
Maybe if the parents of that child were screamed at when they were in school (or spanked when appropriate), it would make a difference.

Dutchess_III's avatar

We aren’t talking about untrained, amateur parents who don’t have any clue that there are methods beyond what they were taught. We are talking about people who are supposed to be professionals. And these people are verbally abusing other people’s children.
Would you appreciate some red faced, spitting, enraged woman screaming at YOUR kid, “If you were MY kid I’d slap you into next week!”

Children with poor parenting are a whole other set of problems. Many of those problem kids ARE screamed at and hit. They bring that anger to school and they hit other students and scream at the top of their lungs in rage when they are the least bit thwarted. They don’t need someone abusing them the way their parents do when they’re supposed tobe in a safe place.

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