“Five minutes until recess is over, you little bastards!” is not only a comic excerpt from the South Park elementary school playground uttered by an old frustrated school groundskeeper. And if you felt hurt, it presumably means, you have never experienced teaching children at all. Throughout decades disruptive pupils have become a disgraceful school trait worldwide. In fact, the problem is still getting worse and worse with little hope of getting better in the future. Strangely enough, the more educational reforms the school goes through the more rowdy young students appear to be. Experience clearly shows – no swift solution is possible. But whose problem is it and what can be done to lessen this wrong behavior and its impact on classroom teaching? Every day observation seems to be explicit – joint effort is our unique chance.
The first group responsibility lies with are teachers and their pupils. It is school where the problem starts and it is the first place to ponder. As time goes by both tutors and students change their attitude towards learning and mutual understanding during classes. Unfortunately, the change is of bad characteristics. Many teachers tend to be indifferent to the education and behavior of their students . They do not apply themselves to the job treating it as a necessary evil in response to which pupils become even more ignorant. They lack intrinsic motivation to learn. Some are excessively praised whereas some are simply passed over feeling second-class. Therefore, they find it sometimes easier to miss classes or misbehave during the lecture. This is why teachers should pay more attention to their own class management. Each one should be aware of the needs of an individual. When necessary, strict discipline would be imposed as well. Of course, students must not forget to be self-disciplined and consistent or else they and even their parents will have to suffer the consequences.
Parental upbringing and care often plays the key role in children’s behavior at school. Not infrequently, future adults resemble their parents. They draw a lot of from everyday home experience and transfer it to school. Unfortunately, not all standards of behavior are fine to follow. Strangely, a number of parents stick up for their kids so much, that they never account them as the guilty side at all. If they are “unable” to blame their children for obvious improper conduct, they themselves are to blame. Instead of blind worshipping, parents could use a well-tried system based on rewards and punishment. Cooperation with school is also crucial. Why not contact the tutor on a regular basis and check how a junior is?
Besides home, a factor that shapes the character of the young people is the surroundings and mass media culture. Nowadays, youths try to uncritically follow each topical pattern served by media around them. The results are shocking: more and more children at the age of fourteen sink very low regarding school and education as something outmoded. Nearly each animated hero can tell you that paying attention to being a normal kid is weird, not to mention that the trashy life-style promoted by commercial television is thought of as cool. The era of moralizing books and required reading is slowly collapsing being displaced by handy gaming devices and the Internet. Researchers and psychologists are convinced – it does not create favorable conditions for school and education. Finding that problem out is one thing, but what about the solution? Do we not have any educationalists among our authorities? Does anyone in power try to administer the Internet and television content? The solution itself appears to be obvious but no one seems to care.
On the whole, there seems to be no ideal way to solve the problem with disruptive pupils. It is also hard to determine whose problem is it as there appears to be a number of social groups standing behind the case. As shown above, no betterment will come without the mutual and careful cooperation of all. Nevertheless, this is going to be a long term process.