A step in the right direction
What is the answer to school violence? Many solutions are suggested from metal detectors to armed teachers, but could there be something that our schools have lost some time ago.
In Mathew 24 verse 12 Jesus gives a prophetic account of one of the things that will happen at the end of the age. It reads, "Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of many will grow cold."
With a little digging you will find that this verse really reads, "the agape of many will grow cold." As wickedness increases people's desire to lay down their lives for others decreases.
My mind goes back to my teaching days in Southern California where I was teaching in an elementary school. Our school was an integrated school in that students from the inner city were bussed out to the suburbs and integrated into the white schools. We had a quite a mix of colors in our school and not a few trouble makers.
I taught in that school for four years and during that time I watched some of those trouble makers work their way up through the grades. I had a sixth grade homeroom so I knew that eventually I would inherit some of these problems. I had a stradegy and that was while out on the playground when I saw some undesirable behavior from one of the troubled kids, I would go up to him and put my arm around him and gently explain the disadvantages of their behavior. What I was doing was building relationships with these boys. I would tell them when they were in the fifth grade that I was going to have them in my homeroom next year and they were going to be one of my boys.
As a homeroom teacher I worked hard to build a atmosphere of having a sense of belonging to a group, (a family) who sticks up for one another and is proud of one another and you had better not mess with one of Burton's kids or you will have the whole bunch to contend with.
I still remember a big Mexican boy coming up through the grades who was a real problem for his teaches as he worked his way into the fifth grade. One day I walked up to him and looked up into his eyes and said, "Next year you are going to be in my homeroom." His reply was "All right." He said it loud enough so nearly everyone on the playground could hear him.
Could it be possible for us teachers to single out some of those "Loners" and "Misfits" and "Troublemakers" and plow a little of our lives into theirs.
I can still remember Ronnie's mother coming to school to see me one day and thanking me for the extra attention that I had paid to her son for he had no father.
Is this something that could be encouraged for our teachers to work on or does the "Sign of the times" prevail as Jesus' prediction said it would.
I would love to hear any comments.
jim@burtonia.com
What is the answer to school violence? Many solutions are suggested from metal detectors to armed teachers, but could there be something that our schools have lost some time ago.
In Mathew 24 verse 12 Jesus gives a prophetic account of one of the things that will happen at the end of the age. It reads, "Because of the increase in wickedness, the love of many will grow cold."
With a little digging you will find that this verse really reads, "the agape of many will grow cold." As wickedness increases people's desire to lay down their lives for others decreases.
My mind goes back to my teaching days in Southern California where I was teaching in an elementary school. Our school was an integrated school in that students from the inner city were bussed out to the suburbs and integrated into the white schools. We had a quite a mix of colors in our school and not a few trouble makers.
I taught in that school for four years and during that time I watched some of those trouble makers work their way up through the grades. I had a sixth grade homeroom so I knew that eventually I would inherit some of these problems. I had a stradegy and that was while out on the playground when I saw some undesirable behavior from one of the troubled kids, I would go up to him and put my arm around him and gently explain the disadvantages of their behavior. What I was doing was building relationships with these boys. I would tell them when they were in the fifth grade that I was going to have them in my homeroom next year and they were going to be one of my boys.
As a homeroom teacher I worked hard to build a atmosphere of having a sense of belonging to a group, (a family) who sticks up for one another and is proud of one another and you had better not mess with one of Burton's kids or you will have the whole bunch to contend with.
I still remember a big Mexican boy coming up through the grades who was a real problem for his teaches as he worked his way into the fifth grade. One day I walked up to him and looked up into his eyes and said, "Next year you are going to be in my homeroom." His reply was "All right." He said it loud enough so nearly everyone on the playground could hear him.
Could it be possible for us teachers to single out some of those "Loners" and "Misfits" and "Troublemakers" and plow a little of our lives into theirs.
I can still remember Ronnie's mother coming to school to see me one day and thanking me for the extra attention that I had paid to her son for he had no father.
Is this something that could be encouraged for our teachers to work on or does the "Sign of the times" prevail as Jesus' prediction said it would.
I would love to hear any comments.
jim@burtonia.com
posted by Jim Burton at 8:18 AM
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