People can hear you and understand you without you getting up in their face and yelling at them.

Yesterday I witnessed a young teacher screaming at her students. Not only was that alone enough to make the scene disturbing, but the kids were K-4 students and she had her face only an inch away from theirs.

This disruption lasted for about two minutes. The more she yelled at the children, the more they either ignored her or acted up. I myself, along with two other adult workers at the site, backed away from the scene and shuddered at the image presented before us.

Had this been an older teacher set in the old ways, the scene itself, though still horrible, wouldn’t have been as racking.

I relish in the idea that our public school system is getting better and that the new teachers being produced are of a sympathetic and efficient breed. This young teacher, not much older than I, handled the situation of her unruly children in a most distasteful manner. What is our school system coming to when teachers leak through the cracks who punish four year olds for being four year olds?

I am not saying that we haven’t made advancements in the teachers who work with our children. I have seen in the same school many exemplary teachers who quietly command their classrooms. One teacher told me that by giving your students respect they will, in turn, respect you.

My reason for recounting this dreadful scene is to hopefully prevent other such dealings. Whether that reaction was a common one for that teacher or the end result of a horrible day, it is important to point out that other people are not our scapegoats, especially students. People can hear you and understand you without you getting up in their face and yelling at them. Children act in a natural way. The way these kindergarteners reacted to their teacher is the same way everybody reacts to someone who openly and rudely scolds them. They either ignore them or act out more.

So the next time you’re having a rough day or just feel like lashing out at someone who has done nothing horribly wrong, catch yourself. Think of it this way, and it is a cliché for a reason, do unto others as you would have done unto yourself.

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