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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!)
You have to read about his culture before concluding whether his body odor or his not showering daily has anything to do with his culture because it might not be. Nobody from any culture would like to hang around a smelly person but reactions are just different based on the fact that more matured people might be able to hold their opinions back so that the person involved does not feel embarrassed. This is not the case as it involves children who are not sensitive to other children so the best thing is to have a meeting with the parents and try and know what is going on. It might be that he is not being properly supervised and need more supervision with his hygiene.