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Case: Smelly Kid
I guess I am still considered a novice teacher because I have been teaching for four years only. I am an elementary school teacher who teaches in a mostly White suburban setting. Couple of weeks ago a new student joined my classroom. He and his parents recently moved from Eastern Europe. His father works at the local university as a music professor. I am not sure what his mother does. He is a wonderful child. Although he speaks little English, he tries to participate in class activities and to make friends with others in the classroom. Couple days after he arrived, I noticed a strange smell around him. I was sure that it was body odor. The other students in the classroom started noticing it too. They started making fun of him. I learned in my multicultural classes when I was at the university that not all cultures promote taking showers everyday, and that body odor is not considered a problem everywhere in the world. Now I have a big dilemma. If I tell my student about it, I might embarrass him. If I sent a note to his parents, I may appear disrespectful toward their culture. But the way he is treated in the classroom by the other students is becoming a real problem. What should I do?
Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!)
I think that two go-to people in this situation will be the school nurse and the school counselor. You want to be very sensitive to the situation, but you are only looking after the child's well being after all. You don't want to seem like you are discriminating them and their culture in anyway. |
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Rating
| The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is relevant to the case |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is original |
No
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| Comments: I agree that the situation needs to be dealt with gently but I feel it would be best for the teacher to talk with the parents maybe having a councilor there or school nurse there would be helpful. But it is the teacher who is teaching the child and they need to talk to them. If the parents were to talk to the parents they may think there child is doing some really wrong and that may lead to repercussions on the child. |
| Rated On: October 15, 2014 8:01 pm |
| Rated By: MaByvu |
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Rating
| The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is relevant to the case |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue |
Yes
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| The suggested solution is original |
Yes
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| Comments: I completely agree. In certain situations where the teacher doesn't know the right way to go about a cultural issue, a student counselor would be a great source to physically address the students in the class on the issue in a sensitive manner while the nurse can help either talk to the parents about "American" perspectives of hygiene and also talk to the class. |
| Rated On: February 25, 2015 6:54 pm |
| Rated By: Meredith Bentley |
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