Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         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 it is important to inform the parents about what is going on in school. I think they need to know that their child is having difficulties. They are not required to change their behavior or to force their child to do something that they do not want, in this case, but they should be able to make an informed decision. It may be something as simple as not realizing it is an issue in school. Once they realize it is an issue, the student may change his behavior. I think it is possible to tell the parents about it without making value judgments about their culture. I also think it is important to express to the students making fun of the student that that behavior will not be tolerated. Certainly the school has a policy about bullying, and these students are probably violating the policy. Regardless of whether the child changes the way he smells, the other children cannot bully him about it. Multicultural education may be helpful in convincing the bullies that this is not anything to be worried about, but at the elementary age, I doubt it. The bullying has to be stopped, however.