Taking Ownership

Garden City Teachers Association

Reflecting Quality Education

Taking Ownership

April 2007

In passing through the halls of the High School recently, I observed something that, in retrospect, reveals much about what is wrong with the culture of the Garden City School District.

A large clump of aluminum foil lay in the middle of the hallway as literally dozens of students and teachers passed by, with many having to step over or around it. It was only through the efforts of Assistant Principal Dave Perrotta that it was finally picked up and disposed of properly. While this one clump in and of itself is hardly worth note, its presence and the near unanimous ignoring of it, are emblematic of a much broader decline in the culture of our schools. In fact, evidence of this decline abounds, as students strew litter, spew profanity and treat one another and their surroundings with general disregard. What is most worrisome, however, is not so much the behavior itself, as the indifference with which it is greeted by much of the staff. For most of us, F-bombs and trash covered floors have become so commonplace as to barely merit notice.

So how have we reached the point where we now accept the previously unacceptable? Two basic forces seem to be at work here. One is a general lowering of behavioral standards on the part of students. As the popularity of films like Jackass clearly demonstrates, this change is hardly limited to the youth of Garden City. Vulgarity and disrespect for others are clearly en vogue. The other factor at work here relates to those of us charged with monitoring and correcting such ill behavior. Unfortunately, there appears to be an increasing indifference on the part of many of us to the profane and improper. While turning a blind eye and a deaf ear may be easier than confronting students, such a course ultimately only helps to foster this troubling atmosphere of behavioral laxity.

So what accounts for our collective failure to confront misbehavior? One explanation is the general sense of resignation that many feel. Surrounded by not just a school community but a broader culture that seems to celebrate the vulgar, many simply throw their hands up in acquiescence. Another explanation for the lack of vigorous action is a feeling of frustration that results from not feeling adequately supported by administrators. After all, one can only write up so many students with no discernible consequence before one gives up. A further factor, and one that seems to be on the rise, is a change in perception of our role as educators in the Garden City School District. Indeed, one of the more notable trends over the last several years here has been an increasing alienation among staff from the District. Many of us no longer feel as if we are part of a collective enterprise with an important mission. Instead, like a stock boy at Walmart, we are just easily replaceable cogs in an increasingly impersonal machine.

While the reasons for this change of perception are worth considering, suffice it to say that the net effect has been a marked decline in the culture of our schools and in the behavior of our students.

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