Open letter to all the ***hole teenagers out there

Dear assholes:

I am a teacher because I enjoy working with teenagers, inspiring them with knowledge and sharing my expertise with them. I love what I teach - drama! Though I joke about all the drama in my class that is not meant for the stage, I do have my limits. Today those limits were reached.

I have a passion for my subject. I love to teach facial expression, body language, proper breathing, articulation exercises, scene study, character creation etc. It is especially rewarding when the students I am teaching show equal enthuasiasm for those subjects. I am not naive, I know I can't have classes filled with all drama keeners, all the time. I know my subject is one of the arts required to receive the OSSD. I realize not everyone shares my passion for the arts. I get that.

What I don't get is the attitude!

As a student, I recognized the importance of rules, I welcomed the structure, I respected the system. Not to say I didn't try to buck the system every once in a while, but in general, I would say I was a respectful, well-behaved secondary school student. I knew I was going to university, perhaps that charged my motivation and impacted my behaviour. I was the child of two educated parents, which of course impacted my views on education. I was a nice person, who wanted people to treat me the way I treated them.

I know that students like that still exist ... but they seem to be the exception more than the rule these days.

My parents taught me to respect their authority and the position of other adults in authority. My parents would consequence or punish me accordingly if my teachers called them and told them that I wasn't behaving as I should.

Where have parents like that gone? Again, they exist... but they seem to be few and far between.

The daily disrespect that I am shown comes from teens who get away with that same behaviour at home. They aren't taught that the way they speak to others matters, that rules are there for a reason or that if you want respect you need to give respect. They live in a world that is all about them - no one else's needs matter. It is all about immediate gratification. If I want to talk, I will. I don't care if my talking interupts the teacher's lesson, or impacts the learning of my peers around me. If you challenge me, I will get my back up and talk back. If I break the rules, so what? No one's going to punish me. I don't respect myself, my parents or my family, so why on earth would I respect you!?!??!

So, I make a call to all teenagers: attitude, a positive one, will get you everywhere in life. A negative one, will only lead to disaster at school, at home and on the job. Make a change - develop a new era of respect.