Oppositional Kids In The Classroom

[snoop1130]

Oppositional Kids In The Classroom

written by John Wilson

 

 

Can you imagine a society where the only power police officers have is to appeal to drivers not to park in forbidden zones? To reason with and persuade them?

 

Motorists would quickly realise they can park as they wish and the police are just a powerless inconvenience. But this is the kind of situation that prevails in schoolrooms with a fraction of oppositional children.

 

“Nowadays, there are only very limited sanctions one can impose on unruly children in the classroom. Behavioural problems in the classroom increase when nothing effective is done about it.”

 

These kids can ruin a lesson and they know they can get away with it. No teacher wants to admit she is having major problems with class control. No international school administration wants to advertise the fact it has a percentage of unruly classes.

 

It is in the interests of both not to say anything at all, to keep things quiet and pretend that everything is satisfactory. But doing this means the problem will continue unabated.* The sad fact is many teachers cannot control unruliness in certain classes, not because they lack willpower or strong intentions, but because they have very little support from parents and the administration.

 

 

Nowadays, there are only very limited sanctions one can impose on unruly children in the classroom. Behavioural problems in the classroom increase when nothing effective is done about it. The most difficult age group is between 13 and 16. At this age, young people discover they have a lot of power.

 

They experiment with opposition to see how far it can go. You only need three oppositional children in a class in order to ruin the lesson plan – the teacher is distracted from instruction and has to spend an inordinate amount of time on classroom management.

 

This means the other children get far less attention and an atmosphere of cooperation declines; inevitably, standards begin to drop. Oppositional kids in the classroom These days, bad behaviour by teenagers is not really penalised.

 

The child may be sent out of the room. They may suffer a tiny sanction. In the worst cases they will be sent home. Teachers, in our time, over a space of a few decades, have effectively been disempowered by parents and administrations. It is no wonder we cannot control a class – we don’t have the means to do so. Reasoning and persuasion does not work.

 

Children feel free to rag each other around, to shout abusive language, to defy the teacher, and to bluntly refuse any kind of cooperation. It is infectious – once gaining momentum, it can spread. Children are quick to spot any weaknesses inside the system. They know who they can mess around with and who they cannot. Foreign teachers are an easy target.

 

Teenagers are quick to discover when there are few serious consequences to bad behaviour and delight in their power to extend distress, to disseminate further discord. In many instances when a child is “acting out” it can be traced to problems at home. If the parents are always fighting or threatening to divorce, children lose heart, lose confidence in their supervisors, and domestic emotional conflict creates resentment that is taken out on adults at school.

 

In Thailand, the overseas wife may be frustrated and bored because she has few meaningful social contacts and cannot find a decent job. The husband may be flirting with attractive young nationals at work and coming home late, smelling of alcohol.

 

There may be a general lack of integration and adaptation to the overseas location (Bangkok counsellors are inundated with clients with problems of this sort). Before you enrol your child in an international school – or decide you want to change one – try a little “due diligence”. Ask around first for reports from the other parents about what is happening in the classrooms – how much time the teacher is spending on “classroom management”. Ask the kids. Sometimes they will be surprisingly honest.

 

Bad behaviour in the classroom can be curtailed, but it requires a concerted effort from all concerned. There is no use in blaming just one person – it is an institutional practice as a whole that needs considering. It is our joint effort that needs revising. If you want your child to do well at school, and get value and results from your investment, make sure you support the teachers in what they are doing – give them your support for effective discipline in the classroom, and make it generally known.

 

John Wilson taught in an international school, in Bangkok, for five years. He now restricts his activities to mature students in higher education.

 

“If you want your child to do well at school, and get value and results from your investment, make sure you support the teachers in what they are doing – give them your support for effective discipline in the classroom, and make it generally known.”

 

*Along with hyperactivity and attention deficits, problems are associated with oppositional defiant disorder. The prevalence of ODD (e.g., defiance, anger, and noncompliance), is based on international research by Angold and Costello, who concluded it is a ‘gigantic public health problem’ with 5–10% of children aged 8–16 years having notable behavioural problems.

 

Source: Expat Life - https://expatlifeinthailand.com/education/oppositional-kids-in-the-classroom/

[RotBenz8888]

Back in the old days, the naught kids got beaten. Now days they get Ritalin. I guess in the middle age, they where the winners. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by RotBenz8888

[Tilacme]

I am not relating to this article at all in the context of Thailand.  In a gov school of 1200 students I dont see what I would call bad behavior from anyone.  Sure there is truancy and a lack of attention from some to put it mildly but bad behaviour or back chat in front of a teacher, just doesn't happen, too much respect.  Also there is a different mindset, a teacher does not need to go blue in the face over "control",  If a student is not applying themselves then its a case of  "up to them".  Its not a teachers job to make them conform to a model.  Once you have that concept on board then you have no worries teaching in Thailand.

[ghworker2010]

Does anyone else think this is a borderline weird article. After reading ''In Thailand, the overseas wife may be frustrated and bored because she has few meaningful social contacts and cannot find a decent job. The husband may be flirting with attractive young nationals at work and coming home late, smelling of alcohol.''.....  I started thinking what has this got to do with the topic? Very strange journalism!

[lemonjelly]

9 minutes ago, ghworker2010 said:

Does anyone else think this is a borderline weird article. After reading ''In Thailand, the overseas wife may be frustrated and bored because she has few meaningful social contacts and cannot find a decent job. The husband may be flirting with attractive young nationals at work and coming home late, smelling of alcohol.''.....  I started thinking what has this got to do with the topic? Very strange journalism!

Yeah, spotted that too; it’s like a paragraph from a completely different essay. Kinda almost pulls together in the following paragraphs.... not much though.... bit of a tedious read actually.

[Emdog]

Doesn't really offer any useful concrete methods other than vague "work together" blah blah. Most of my teaching career was severely emotionally disturbed, ages 14-21 at public high school in USA. I would estimate about 75% were members of Crips or Bloods, African American violent gangs.

It is true you can't control them. I wouldn't want to. Goal is to teach them to control themselves, make rational choices, take responsibility for their lives. Not easy. Treat them with respect, involve them in rule making and consequence setting. We want them to grow into responsible adults and I believe that is what school is for. It's not a prison. Of course it was hard sailing and they were a handful, blow ups go with territory. Humor helps. I never felt particularly in danger even tho many were hard core. Out of 15-20 case load, average 1 per year would be involved either murdered, kill someone or kill self (guns, of course. This was USA).

 If teachers out there are experiencing discipline, there is a quick and fairly effective program available: Assertive Discipline and Beyond (I used bits of this along with democracy in the classroom Adlerian model)

Here's a link http://www.canter.net/mediafiles/ADB.pdf

[BobbyL]

Strange article.

 

I think it is a common view that a teacher, school management and parents play a vital role in a child and their behaviour. This article presents nothing new. 

 

In my experience of teaching here I have never seen a 'naughty' child. Silly? Yes. A bit arrogant and rude at times? Yes. Disinterested and lazy? Yes.

 

Teaching in England I saw some real kids with real behaviour issues stemming from their social background, nothing like your average international school kid Bangkok. 

 

 

 

[Curmudgeonly59]

Shocking load of old codswallop. 

Riddled with stereotypes: 

21 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

"the overseas wife may be frustrated and bored because"

(What if it's the overseas husband at home?)

Bloviate, didactic, derivative twaddle. 

Stick to what the website is good at: forum posts about the latest visa convolutions.

[NoshowJones]

20 hours ago, Tilacme said:

I am not relating to this article at all in the context of Thailand.  In a gov school of 1200 students I dont see what I would call bad behavior from anyone.  Sure there is truancy and a lack of attention from some to put it mildly but bad behaviour or back chat in front of a teacher, just doesn't happen, too much respect.  Also there is a different mindset, a teacher does not need to go blue in the face over "control",  If a student is not applying themselves then its a case of  "up to them".  Its not a teachers job to make them conform to a model.  Once you have that concept on board then you have no worries teaching in Thailand.

As a former teacher, I fully agree with this post.

[WonnabeBiker]

On 2/25/2019 at 6:23 PM, Tilacme said:

I am not relating to this article at all in the context of Thailand.  In a gov school of 1200 students I dont see what I would call bad behavior from anyone.  Sure there is truancy and a lack of attention from some to put it mildly but bad behaviour or back chat in front of a teacher, just doesn't happen, too much respect.  Also there is a different mindset, a teacher does not need to go blue in the face over "control",  If a student is not applying themselves then its a case of  "up to them".  Its not a teachers job to make them conform to a model.  Once you have that concept on board then you have no worries teaching in Thailand.

YMMV, specifically at expensive private P-schools. Wealthy parents dump special needs' kids at such schools. Respect doesn't cover kids with polymorph disorders. 

• Not speaking, ever.
• ADD etc. and then the short attention span.
• try teaching science in the 8th period to P1 students... Even with some fun activities besides the usual breaks, there will be some unruly kids who are really exhausted, too. 

Some are thrown out of the classroom. P1 students hate that! 

[ozmeldo]

Weird article. Fake News. Artificial yes, Intelligent no.

 

I've taught over 2000 kids in five years. Even when I was given two throwaway classes full of neighborhood quota kids they were naughty at times but not bad, rude, offensive.

 

If I had time, a different book and another year of experience under my belt I could have done something with those kids.

 

I'm fortunate, but I work at my success. Don't teach at Temple schools, broken schools upcountry or as a TA in top international or as a teacher in low tier international in Chaing Mai or Pathumthani, Nonthaburi, Minburi... problem solved.

 

What a stupid article. Anyone worked with a female teacher looking like that blond? I think we're a bit off there as well lol.