Day 70

Why are teachers forced to do busy yet unnecessary tasks like Lunch Duty? I hate lunch duty. I'd rather be using that time to do some last-minute grading or photocopying or planning or anything else that has something directly to do with why I was hired. I hate dealing with kids who seem to have misplaced (or completely missed the lesson on) their manners. Why is it okay for you, a 14-18 year old, to argue with me and disrespect me? One kid today had on a t-shirt that had a guy with a "cigarette" on it. The cigarette was "lit" (illusion w/ some orange glitter). I asked him to turn the shirt inside out. Didn't even threaten to report him for inappropriate dress, just please turn the shirt inside out. He argued with me. He put on a friend's jacket to cover it up, but knowing that he would take it off as soon as I disappeared, I told him to go to the bathroom and turn his shirt inside out if he had nothing on underneath and didn't want to change it in front of the cafeteria. He refused. "I'll do it after I get my lunch," he conceeded, but I knew after he got his lunch, he'd say, "I'll do it after I eat my lunch." So I asked him one more time (it was about 7 times by this time), and he refused. I told him, "Let's take a walk to Mr. [Principal]'s office." He refused. I told him I'd go without him then. Mr. [Principal] was in a meeting, so I went to the other cafeteria to find a Vice Principal. I luckily found one. Told him the situation. He asked where the student was and why he wasn't with me. I told him the student refused to come with me. VP says, "Oh, that's insubordination. He just got himself suspended." Now, I like this kid generally when I have him in class. He has never been rude before. Perhaps he was just showing out in front of his friends, but either way, he was being extremely rude, and if he got suspended, he deserves it. So, this VP must've contacted the VP in charge of the student, because the second VP found me at the end of lunch and asked me what happened. I told her. She said okay. I don't think the kid got suspended though. If he doesn't get suspended, it will just teach the kid that it's okay to disobey (and thus be completely rude) to a teacher. Another slap on the wrist. Perhaps they should just allow the kid to skip my class for a couple of days and then excuse all of the absences.