Which Is Worse?

 

I’ve been amazed at some of things that my students have done and said over the years, but I can’t decide if what the kids have said and done is worse than what their parents have said and done.  So, you decide.  Which is worse? 

A boy who can’t read shows up to school wearing a blue “Got Crip?” shirt or the mother who yells, ”You wore that shirt to school?” when I called home to tell her that gang references of any kind are not tolerated by the school.

A boy shows up to school wearing red from head to toe to go on a school trip or the mother who states that she bought him the red tee shirt, red Dickies shorts and red Chuck Taylor All Star Converse shoes…..all brand new, because he told her that “all of his friends would be wearing the same thing and that is was o.k.”

A mother who blames the school system for her daughter’s failures in school, including her daughter’s inability to read, fondness of gossip and blatant disrespect of school staff or the fact that the mother didn’t raise the daughter or her sister and only took over her parental responsibilities when her own mother died, has known that her child can’t read, yet kept her out of school for weeks until placing her in yet another school (but not before cursing out me and the principal).

A girl is behaving so badly to the point that I have to call home to tell the mother that she needs to come and get her child or the mother (who has 5 other kids by various men and will end up having another) answers the phone in a groggy voice. Upon explaining the situation to her, the mother says five words to me, “I’m sleep.  Call her grandmother,” and then hangs up.

A 1o year old boy comes to school wearing dirty clothes, hair (un) styled in a way that makes him look like a cross between Don King and Buckwheat, has body odor that rivals two big, burly, grown, sweaty men (supposedly because he’s allergic to deodorant) and runs wild most mornings until the school secretary can give him the morning dose of his medication that his mother refuses to give him or the boy’s mother who shows up to her child’s school wearing a gold, sequined captain style hat, with a matching gold sequined vest, scuffed gold sandals, unshaven armpits (with hair bearing visible clumps of deodorant-it was just so obvious) as if she arrived straight from a night club……… or cheap, sleazy strip club and is loud as ever.  Did I mention that boy’s older sister ended up coming to my school and within weeks both the boy and his sister were kicked off the bus?

Oy Vey!