Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         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!) I can understand why the mistake was made but it is never to assume someone guilty because of their appearance. It will be difficult to build that trust back between yourself and the student. The only way I can think of righting the wrong would be to formally apologize to him and tell him how baseless it is to assume that someone would steal just because they are poor. You will have to be very honest and "real" with him. I respond to the situation by first admitting that I was the one responsible for the entire situation. If I would have taken better care of the money then the situation would have never occurred. Therefore, I would have spoken with my administrator and come up with the money myself to correct the mistake. In the meantime, I would make the situation known to all of my students and remind them what the cause for the money was for. I would then ask them to report anything they know to me or the principal about the situation. I believe this would be the most appropriate course of action.