Respect Our Teachers!

It’s time to talk, Hoban. It’s time to talk about the way we talk. Particularly, how we talk about our teachers.

I’ve spent a lot of time reflecting about what I want to say because  more than anything, I want to practice what I preach. Most of the time, I make a conscience effort to be respectful in my speech and I ask for forgiveness from anyone who can testify otherwise. The truth is, we have all bemoaned our teachers. But when does it become inappropriate?

High school is difficult, I know. If you are like me, you have many classes, much work, multiple extracurricular activities and, on top of it all, family and friends tugging at you. Everywhere you go, people have expectations. It can be easy to feel stressed out and find hard to find balance for any remaining sanity to exist. For many students, school is the primary contributor of this phenomenon of anxiety.

In all of this frustration, it can be easy to think that your teachers and even the Hoban staff in general are just out to get you. It can also be just as easy to let your speech about them become rude, disrespectful and even threatening. But just because something is easy, doesn’t mean it is morally correct.

Know that you are greatly cared about and loved here. Every teacher that has taken a job at Hoban has done so because they greatly care about the youth of our world. They want to see you succeed. They want you to get the job of your dreams and live incredibly happily. I have never met a teacher at this school who was not willing to help me when I’ve had a problem. I have never met a teacher at this school who didn’t treat me respectfully, more so than I expected or even deserve sometimes.

Because of this, my heart is broken when I hear kids demeaning their teachers, calling them awful names or even threatening harm to them—and all for petty issues that could be resolved easily. The inappropriate and unacceptable speech has crossed the line from being a joke to being derogatory.

Yes, saying a class is challenging is fine, as is saying a teacher’s teaching style does not work as well for you…or that you are confused. But at the end of the day, we need teachers to succeed. Therefore, they deserve your attention, best effort and absolute respect. They care for you and your well-being and that deserves to be reciprocated.

So stop fellow students. Stop gossiping about teachers with your friends. Stop the hateful conversation when an assignment rankles you—and for goodness sake, stop calling them by their first names!

The disregard and disrespect for teachers is becoming a serious epidemic in our beloved school. We need to face it together. If we all make an effort, we can all make a change. Together, we can build a more respectful environment of the teachers and staff that work so hard for us.