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Case: Poor and Innocent
I made one of the biggest mistakes in my professional life as a teacher about a week ago. I teach middle school English. We collected money for a breast cancer awareness event, and I put the cash and the checks in separate envelopes. After lunch time, I could not locate the envelope with the cash. I looked everywhere, but I could not find it. I asked my students if anyone took the envelope by mistake but nobody came forward. So, the cash was lost. Apparently, someone stole it, I thought. I have a good mix of students in my classroom; different religions, races, cultures, and rich and poor. Steve is the poorest student. Sometimes students make fun of Steve for wearing the same pair of shoes or the same pants all the time. The day after the money had been lost Steve came to school wearing a new jacket. Automatically, everyone, including me, started thinking he stole the cash. I took Steve to the principal's office to have a conference with him about the lost cash and his new jacket. We told him why we were having the meeting and asked him to be truthful. He said he had nothing to do with the lost cash. When we asked him about the new jacket, he said he had worked in his uncle's mechanic shop past weekend and made some money. Then, his father gave him some money to make up the difference for him to buy the jacket. We called his father and he confirmed everything Steve had told us. At that moment I thought I had never been so embarrassed in my life. But the more embarrassing moment came when Steve asked me if I had questioned Greg, a student from a middle class background, because he happened to come to school wearing a new jacket that day also. How can I fix the broken trust between me and Steve? How would you react to this situation—lost money and a poor student wearing a new jacket the next day? What would be the most appropriate way to respond to this situation?
Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!)
Monetary collection is one of the necessary evils of teaching. Unfortunately, temptation can make even our best students less than trustworthy, which is why students should always be supervised and should never have access to cash received. Just as I don't keep the class prize box or candy jar within the reach of little fingers, I keep cash carefully locked away. Otherwise, I would be setting my students up to take something.
Since the damage in this situation is already done, the best solution may be to attempt an honest apology and prepare for a long wait to reestablish the trust between the teacher and student. In the meantime, it might help to make Steve feel less singled out to take his advice and pursue other possible leads regarding the theft. |
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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 agree. The money should have been placed in a secure location. Also, the student may be willing to forgive if a sincere apology is given. |
| Rated On: October 19, 2014 9:27 pm |
| Rated By: Lauren Hill |
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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
|
| 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: this is a good solution |
| Rated On: February 25, 2018 11:15 pm |
| Rated By: uXysej |
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