A Clockwork Orange

Nobody gets beaten to a bloody pulp in my version. No one goes to jail. There is no brain washing. However, there is anger, maliciousness, fear, and maturation. The youth are still out of control.

Except in my version, the teachers have the power, and the kids should be real horrorshow scared. This is the story of how I restrained my rage towards my undisciplined students.

I remember the times of high school when the end of the year was in site, the weather was a distraction, and short attention spans grew ever shorter. I remember classrooms resembling classrooms less and less, and more accurately resembling contained circus exhibits. I too remember participating in these shenanigans. Now I’ve found how nightmarish those last days are for teachers. My students have little to no respect remaining; have no desire to learn stoichiometry, nor the capacity to fully grasp the magnitude of what I’m teaching. I find myself teaching less and shouting more. My disgust for corporal punishment is evaporating quite rapidly (I will never partake, but there have been several occasions when I wished I hadn’t made that vow).

And so I find myself in the unique situation of searching for a remedy to unruly teenagers (if parenting was remotely like this ever, please forgive me, Mom and Dad) that will scare them into submission. But I have no remedy. My only hope is the kids grow up, realize they might someday want something more, and sit down quietly. Because I know that ultimately, what I’m trying to teach them (I am teaching more than just stoich) will help, and no scare tactic I could possibly enforce will have the same effect as if they individual decide they want something better. And so my tactic is to hope…

And now for two random photos! Just because I haven't posted any photos recently.