Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Not A Poor Loser. I teach in an urban elementary school where most of the children are on free or reduced lunch. Most of the students live close to the school, but we have a small number of students from middle socioeconomic status who are bused from nearby neighborhoods. Most of these students do not qualify for free or reduced lunch. When Josh joined my 5th grade classroom two weeks ago, I handed him the free/reduced lunch coupons to be submitted to the lunch room personnel at lunch time. What I did not realize was that Josh did not qualify for free or reduced lunch but I simply made the assumption that he did because most of our students do. When Josh saw the coupons he asked me what they were and I told him what they were. He said, in a loud enough voice for everyone to hear, that he was not one of those poor losers who had to get government's help. I was surprised to hear such a thing from a 5th grade student. I told him that what he said was wrong and hurtful but he did not seem to care much. I wondered if he learned these types of things at home. Because his classmates heard what he said, they have not accepted him as a friend. Josh now is an isolated child. I have to deal with this issue. I have to find a way to bring Josh and the rest of the class together but I don't know where to begin. Do I begin with Josh, or the other students in class? How do I fix this so that all students learn some good lessons about tolerance? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I think you should first have a conversation with Josh, but not in front of his classmates. Explain to him that all students at the school are given the same lunch information because some of the students need assistance. However, the students who need assistance are not different then he is. These students are at school to also learn an education. Explain to him how simple outburst like he had can cause other students to judge him just as he judged them. Also, Josh needs to understand that not everyone can help the fact that they are in need of financial assistance. The students parents could have recently lost their job or had a death in the family and need help because lack of income. Josh also needs to be aware that the government is here to assist families in need and if his family was in need they would be there to help them as well. Encourage Josh to try and interact with his fellow classmates and if they have comments about what he said then for him to apologize to them.