I have noticed a disturbing trend among students in my years of teaching, most noticeably in the past few years.
They are proud of their dysfunction.
They want to blurt out their emotional/mental/physical ailments.
When I was in school, girls didn't talk about their periods with FEMALE teachers, let alone male ones. The worst thing that could happen IN THE WORLD was for someone to somehow find out that you were having your period. The only time we even alluded to such a thing was if we wanted to skip school and had used up all of our other excuses that week. We would go to the assistant principal, the nicest, sweetest, most mild-mannered African-American man in the whole world (his being African-American has nothing to do with this story, actually) and tell him we needed to go home "to change clothes." That was as brash as we got.
Girls these days?
One of my former students in a traditional high school would carry a tampon down the hall on the way to the restroom and wave it around like it was some magic wand or something.
One of our current students went in to our ONLY male teacher's room one day and asked if he would like to trade bodies with her, because she was "on her period, and having cramps really bad."
Some of them act like a diagnosis of bi-polar disorder is the equivalent of a Congressional Medal of Honor.
We had one today who announced that the reason she had to go home suddenly earlier today was that last night she found out she has a personality disorder (I could have told her that), and she needed to go home and discuss it with her mother, because apparently both her mother and her therapist are keeping it from her. I think this research happened on the internet while the little twit should have been doing her course work.
When did it become cool to be crazy?
Could one of these people piggyback on Barbara Mandrell and record "I Was Crazy When Crazy Wasn't Cool"?
4 comments:
I know exactly what you're talking about, Bragger. I think believe that place of pride in their diagnosis is simply a legitimized excuse for them. Now that they have something to hold onto they are entitled to all sorts of special treatment and are excused from behaviors that would normally be unacceptable and have stiff repercussions. I once had a running start student who announced to the class that she was bipolar. My response was "And your point?" She started rattling off this laundry list of why she should get special treatment because of it (e.g. absent for class should count against her, late assignments shouldn't count against her, etc.). I finally pulled her out into the hallway where there was a bit more privacy and informed her the diagnosis excuses her from nothing.
I believe a good part of the problem is people don't call them on their poor behavior. They believe it is okay, even acceptable, to say the things they say and act the way they do.
I don't think a teenager can actually be diagnosed with personality disorder. I just studied this in Abnormal Psychology! The symptoms of personality disorder are what those of us who are adults would call, "being a teenager." LOL
You have to love when people self-diagnose!
I know what you mean and a high school is certainly a place where kids think putting their "crazy" in public is good!
Just yesterday, the weirdest, most dysfunctional kid in my building was proudly proclaiming how she had: "ADD, ADHD, OCD... and asthma." Little freaks.
Evil Pixie - I'm SO going to use your line about a diagnosis not excusing bad behavior. Thanks for that!
Lilith - I forwarded your comment to all of my co-workers. They loved it!
Maggie - I think some of mine don't know the difference between ADHD and asthma.....
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