Carl

I think this story brings up some important classroom management issues. It is easy to dismiss a student who is acting out, disobeying authorities, or not doing their homework as simply a "bad" kid or a "troublemaker," however it is important to realize that there may be a number of underlying factors which lead to these behaviours. We cannot always be aware of the problems that are faced by our students, especially outside of class, so we should be wary of our initial judgments and try to be encouraging and positive with our students as much as possible. Discipline and rules are necessary to maintain order in a classroom but we must always be careful that we are not simply putting down, punishing or belittling students which is much more damaging to students than it is corrective.