True_Stories_of_a_Teacher

Life Stories From a young age, Bryan displayed a hunger for knowledge like no other child. When he had learnt how to read, he would often pester his mother to bring him to the library to borrow loads of books for him to read. Encyclopedias and almanacs were lined up along the shelves in his home and many a time, he would read and forget about dinner or sleep. Naturally, a boy like him excelled in primary school and after the primary school leaving examinations, he went on to a reputable secondary school. One which he had been aiming to go to ever since he started schooling: Victoria School. Bryan was in the United States visiting his father who had been out stationed there when he received news of his PSLE results and you can imagine how ecstatic he was. Like all parents, his father and mother were very proud of his achievements and thought the world of him. His parents did not complete secondary school education so it was really a huge relief for them when their son had proven them wrong. Little did they know that this was the start of Bryan’s tribulations. His thirst for knowledge served him well during the first two years of secondary school life. Surrounded by elites, he still managed to do well enough to get into the top 10 of the school. However, during the December holidays in his first year, he got mixed with bad company. They were a bunch of older students who lived in his neighbourhood. They were perceived as “cool” by the other students in the area partly because they were very good looking and every other kid wanted to hang out with them. He really wished to join their group and he got his wish when a primary school friend of his introduced them to him at a barbeque party. They were so humorous at times and Bryan wished so much to be just like them. Before long, he was part of their group and hung out with them everyday after school. It started out as movie outings and barbeques to chalet outings. Bryan had never been perceived to be cool and he enjoyed the attention he got from his newfound friends. However, one faithful night, he noticed one of them smoking and he offered a stick to everyone in the group. Bryan had never smoked before but he didn’t want to be seen as cowardly as well. Reluctantly, he picked up the habit as it became commonplace to smoke every time they met. A few months went by and no one realized that Bryan had picked up smoking. His results were still very good and he managed to be streamed into the best Sec 3 class. It was during this time that one of the members from the group revealed that he was in fact a gang member and asked everyone to join the gang. Bryan was very reluctant as his mother had warned him when he was young and could subconsciously hear his mum nagging incessantly about such dangers. Nevertheless, he didn’t want to be perceived as a scaredy-cat and joined. He soon got involved in gang fights. It could be over something trivial as someone bumping into one of your gang members and not apologizing or someone just simply staring at one of them. More fights ensued and he felt a new sense of power and authority took over Bryan like never before. His group was always the larger one in fights and they would often win in numbers. “Joining gangs is fun,” he thought to himself. He felt stupid for listening to his mother when he was young. Soon he learned to take drugs and even helped peddle drugs to other drug addicts, earning “commission” for helping his friends out. Over the weekends, Bryan would join rave parties while taking ecstasy pills, ketamine and even the dreaded “ice” or scientifically known as mephatamine and enjoyed the “high”s he got. However, his insatiable appetite grew and soon he was taking ecstasy pills at home with his headphones firmly fixed on his head and the loudest techno music playing on his discman. His parents never suspected a thing as he still attended school everyday. His results dipped naturally and he would dismiss them by giving some excuses but soon his parents felt something was aloof. He started to fail a few tests and was depressed for the first time in his life. He had never done badly for his academics and this came as a slight surprise. He soon felt he was not cut out for studying and stopped trying altogether. He became a shadow of his former self and had lost all high regard that he had of himself. He developed a low self esteem and gave up on all hope. He felt everything would work out fine as long as he did some last minute studying. By the time he received his final year results for Sec 3, he was shocked to find out that he had failed 5 of his 9 subjects. His L1R5 was 40 and he was devastated. He immediately knew the cause of his poor results. Never had he felt so much remorse and anguish. At the same time, he did not know how to face his parents. They had such high expectations of him and would never expect someone like him to do so badly. Shamefully, he brought his report book home and showed his parents. Neither his mum nor his dad said anything. His dad just went back to his room while his mother gave him a blank look and told him to try to buck up so that he could at least graduate with an O level certificate. His parents’ disappointed faces and his immense shame led him to feel very depressed. He felt there was no place to hide his face which was full of tears now. He knew he could never turn back time to undo his wrongs and he felt there was only one way out: he decided to commit suicide. He went to the provision shop downstairs and bought a box of panadol. As he slowly swallowed each tablet with tears streaming down his cheeks, he penned his last words of gratitude for his parents as well as how sorry he was for letting them down…... The above is my story and miraculously I did not succeed in my attempt to take my own life. My life has been full of ups and downs even up till now as I have just finalized my divorce with my ex-wife of 4 years. However, stories aside, there are basically 3 issues that can be discussed during my adolescent years. The 3 issues and the explanation using the theories can be seen in the tables below as well as those on the following pages. |Issue |Theories Used |Explanation | |Joining Gangs (Taking Drugs, |Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological|Bronfenbrenner described of 5 systems which affect a child’s behaviour. We | |Smoking, Fights) |Theory |can see that in Bryan’s case, his behaviour was caused mainly by his peers | | | |and in a small part, his parents. These two forces co exist in the | | | |microsystem sphere of influence. Peers exert the most powerful influence | | | |especially among adolescents as they influence mainly in three forms, | | | |namely attitudes and values, social development and emotional support | | | |(Eisenberg, Fabes & Spinrad, 2006). Bryan chose disruptive friends and | | | |naturally his grades dropped and behavioural problems increased. | | |Erikson’s Psychosocial |Erikson’s Theory discusses about 8 life-span stages of development in a | | |Development Theory |person’s search for identity. Identity is the sense of self, individuals’ | | | |cognitive assessment of their own existence, and what they want in life. | | | |Bryan is currently in stage 5 where adolescents face a crisis of identity | | | |vs. confusion. Adolescents experiment with various roles and confusion | | | |results when the home environment does not provide the necessary structure | | | |for individual exploration with different identity roles (Erikson, 1968, | | | |1980). In this case, he assumes a different identity when he is with his | | | |friends and there is confusion as he understands that he is doing the wrong| | | |things but he does not want to lose his newfound friends and his newfound | | | |identity. | | |Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs |Maslow (1968, 1970) described of two group of needs: deficiency needs and | | | |growth needs. In Bryan’s case, there seemed to be no deificiency needs that| | | |needed to be addressed. However, his desire to have new friends may be due | | | |to the fat that he wanted to have acceptance from his peers, a | | | |belongingness to a group of “cool” peers. | |Low Self Efficacy and Low Self|Bandura’s Self Efficacy Theory|Bandura (1997) described that self-efficacy influences motivation to learn.| |Esteem | |Self-efficacious students accept more challenging tasks, exert more effort,| | | |persist longer, use more effective strategies and generally perform better.| | | |Bryan exhibited a low self esteem after not performing well in a few tests.| | | |He may have the ability to do well but due to the drug abuse, he would have| | | |damaged his body physically and mentally to the point that it affected his | | | |studies. This led to him having low self-efficacy and results in a vicious | | | |cycle where his self esteem and self-efficacy spiral downwards, thus | | | |resulting in him failing his end of year examinations. | | |Marcia’s Identity Status |Marcia (1980, 1987, 1999) described 4 states that young people’s decisions | | |Theory |are classified into. Bryan is classified under identity diffusion. He | | | |exhibits low self esteem and has developed a negative identity. There is | | | |role confusion as described earlier using Erikson’s Psychosocial | | | |Development Theory. | | |Erikson’s Psychosocial |Erikson’s Theory discusses about 8 life-span stages of development in a | | |Development Theory |person’s search for identity. Identity is the sense of self, individuals’ | | | |cognitive assessment of their own existence, and what they want in life. | | | |Bryan is currently in stage 4 where adolescents face a crisis of industry | | | |vs. inferiority. School provides opportunities for students to develop a | | | |sense of competence through success on challenging tasks. A pattern of | | | |failure can lead to feelings of inferiority. (Erikson, 1968, 1980). In this| | | |case, his results lead him to feel that he is unable to develop a sense of | | | |competence. This continued sense of incompetency ultimately leads to a | | | |sense of inferiority. | |Committing Suicide |Marcia’s Identity Status |Marcia (1980, 1987, 1999) described 4 states that young people’s decisions | | |Theory |are classified into. Bryan is classified under identity diffusion. He | | | |exhibits low self esteem and has developed a negative identity. It | | | |ultimately manifests itself into depression and a desire to end his life. | | |Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological|Bronfenbrenner described of 5 systems which affect a child’s behaviour. We | | |Theory and Parenting Styles |can see that in Bryan’s case, his behaviour was caused in no small part, | | | |his parents. Bryan’s parents are authoritative parents; they are firm but | | | |caring and have high expectations. This explains the disappointment that | | | |they exhibited when they learned of his results. Such an outright | | | |disapproval led to Bryan’s depression and to a lesser extent, his decision | | | |to end his life. | | |Social Emotional Learning |Social Emotional Learning refers to the acquisition of skills to recognize | | | |and manage emotions, develop care and concern for others, make responsible | | | |decisions, establish positive relationships and handle challenging | | | |situations effectively. Bryan chose to join a gang, take drugs and also | | | |made a decision to end his life, all of which are examples of irresponsible| | | |decisions. He did not think of his parents and how those decisions would | | | |affect them when he made his choice. | From the above analysis, we can see that his parents and peers played a big part in his decisions as expected from Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory. However, his classmates as well as his teachers should have noticed the problem earlier and help to surface the problem to his parents. As such, listed on the next page are some of the possible interventions that his parents, classmates and teachers could have undertaken. Possible interventions from his parents • His parents could have tried to find out more about when they found that his results were dropping. This could have been done by spending more time with him through family outings or conversations. • Positive feedback could be given to encourage him. Even when he was not meeting expectations, the parents should have reacted in a better manner. By doing this, they can help to motivate him to do better next time and raise self efficacy as well as self esteem. By commending on what he did right rather than what he should not have done. • His parents could have tried to find out who he was interacting with outside of school. From Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Theory, the mesosystem refers to the interactions between the elements of the microsystem and this interation plays a part in shaping the child’s character as well. Possible interventions from his classmates • They should have discouraged him from mixing with bad company if they knew about it. It is who you mix with that shapes your character during the formative adolescent years. The other students may have been afraid of mixing with him for fear that they may stray but no one dared to help even if they had been in the same school for three years. Even if they were afraid of him, they could have informed their form teacher to intervene. • They should have tried to get him to interact with the class more by getting him to join in their after school activities so that he would spend lesser time with his group of friends outside of school. • They could form study groups when they knew his results were dropping. This form of collaborative and social learning is prevalent in SEL and serves to help the learner earn from his peers in a positive manner. Possible interventions from his teachers • The teacher should have tried to find out more when his results were dropping. Words of encouragement and motivation would have been beneficial especially when a good student starts to fail. Self regulatory methods such as the setting of achievable goals and effective time management could be taught to him for him to monitor his own learning. • To send the student for counseling. Sometimes, a teacher can only do so much and that is when the teacher should call for professional help from the school counselor. On a final note, I would just like to share what my history teacher did to save me. I confided in a close friend of mine and he told my history teacher that I had attempted to commit suicide. He empathized with me and kept listening to what I had to say. I was grateful that he did not inform the police about my actions and not only that, he talked to me almost every day after school just so that he could understand me better. After I was comfortable talking to him, he talked to me about responsible decision making and this really affected me and my way of thinking. I am eternally grateful to him for shaping me into who I am today and the teacher that I hope to become in the future. 2500 words