ShutterstockWhat many students fail to realize is that teachers are just people too, and for the most part, they are doing their best to provide a good education, or at least they should be. Sometimes, a teacher at school will do what they think is right, even though it is bad for the students in their class.

That is what happened in a class at the school in this story when the teacher demanded that the kids write an essay about personal responsibility as a punishment for not getting parental signatures on a report.

The student used that opportunity to write the essay on the fact that some kids in the class were from abusive households, and getting that signature could create a dangerous situation.

To his credit, the teacher accepted the criticism and adjusted the way he did things in the future. Check out the full story below and see what you think of how the student handled things.

Make high school juniors write essays for not getting their report signed by their parents? Prepare for a lesson in tact and compassion

Background: my father is a teacher at this same school who has received multiple crystal apples and changed many kids lives because of his compassion, dedication, and understanding. He’s also been a teacher for about 25 years at this point.

Any type of abuse is heartbreaking. It is good that she had her father there to protect her.

I am very much my father’s daughter, and have never gotten on with malicious teachers in the past, other than that, I was a model student.

I was also abused by my mother in secret, my dad didn’t know because I was too scared to tell him, but whenever he saw it he always intervened on my behalf.

She was clearly a very good student.

A major problem with her was my grades (I only got a C three times in twelve years of education, and those were all in advanced math classes but even high B’s were practically a sin to this woman).

So, onto the story: It’s junior year, late winter.

Nothing wrong with keeping parents informed.

My school had this thing where every so often every quarter the teacher was to print out a copy of your grades (including ever single assignment) and you were to take it home to get it signed by your parents because “parental involvement leads to positive academic progress”, thanks No Child Left Behind Act, tell that to my bruises.

Obviously, this being a high school in a rural town with a lot of kids who had less than great parents, almost nobody ever did these, hadn’t since 5th grade.

This is one way to handle the requirement.

Most teachers accepted this and just made it extra credit. Obviously, admin didn’t like this, however their hands were tied as all they’d told the teachers to do was make it some kind of assignment so kids can get a little easy credit.

The teachers technically did this, and most of them were smart enough to be union teachers and were kind enough and had done this long enough to know what could happen to kids when you make these mandatory.

Not all teachers knew what was going on.

But not James (not his real name).

No, James was young, just started his teaching career a couple years prior, and way too confident for his own good.

What did he get in trouble for?

He also didn’t believe in unions, and so was not shielded the administrations wrath even a little when, lo and behold, for the third year in a row, less than 10% of the class actually got these things signed and turned in.

So, we walk into class, and James is sitting at his desk pouting with steam coming out his ears.

Wow, this is very unprofessional.

He basically yelled at all of us about how we were ruining his job and how with his newborn baby at home he didn’t have time to pester and shepherd us into doing this sort of stuff.

So instead of learning, we were all gonna go to the really cold computer lab and write essays about personal responsibility.

Let’s see how she handled this assignment.

Needless to say, this made me mad, but, we had to do it. So we get there, he’s throwing his little tantrum in the corner, and I’m staring at a blank page trying to think how I want to do this.

And I get a wonderful, glorious idea for some malicious compliance.

Honestly, it is none of her business whether he joins a union or what choices he makes outside of teaching.

For reference, I got a five out of five on my AP writing exam later that year, I am a good writer when it comes to essays and such.

So, I wrote an essay absolutely eviscerating him for doing this and explaining why he had a personal responsibility to protect his own job, union up, and do his job as a teacher to help kids succeed with compassion rather than force.

She didn’t want to get in trouble, which is smart.

Of course, this was in much nicer terms, and written in such a way where it was just general enough to not be a personal attack, but he would still get the point.

I’d technically done the assignment, it was a 3 page essay on personal responsibility, and I’d made sure at the beginning to admit to and list the personal responsibilities of the student in the first paragraph

Let’s see how this goes.

And it was general enough that it didn’t talk about the consequences I faced at home directly, so I felt safe on all counts, and confident that this was the right move.

I finished this essay about half an hour into the period, printed it, and put it on his desk without saying anything.

It is great that he took this as a learning opportunity.

About five minutes later he comes over and asks to see me in the hall.

I’m anxious but obviously I comply, and to my surprise he was awkward and seemed to have understood the scolding and apologized to me, saying he hadn’t considered that some kids’ parents could behave that way.

Her efforts seem to have paid off.

He grew up in a rich neighborhood, with rich, well-to-do parents and likely wouldn’t have known it even if his best friend was being abused.

Feeling a bit braver I told him it was alright, but he shouldn’t do this kind of stuff, and if he didn’t want to join the union, he should at least talk to teachers like my dad and try to see how they were getting around admin’s rules on this.

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It is wonderful when someone is able to learn and adjust.

He just kinda nodded and shuffled his feet and we went back into the lab after that.

He called the essay off in a hurry and we all went back to the classroom and got to have about 20 minutes of free time before the period ended.

Sometimes teachers have to be a bit harsh.

As far as I’m aware, he listened to me and did in fact join the union so admin couldn’t put him in that position again, and while he’s still a bit of a jerk from what I’ve heard since I’ve moved away for college, he’s toned it down a bit and hasn’t given anyone crap about this since.

Moral of the story: don’t be too proud to talk to senior members of your field or members of your union whether you’re in it or not and have compassion for your students.

Things seem to have worked out really well in the end. People who are willing to listen to constructive criticism and make improvements are the best and will usually be successful.

If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a student who was threatened after refusing an elective exam, so they took the case to the district.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this story.

It is wonderful when people can overcome any type of abuse.

Now this is a great saying.

It was a great story, however, I’m curious about this as well.

It is best to cheer for them both, though. Well done.

While she was just a kid, she handled it maturely.

It takes a great person to be able to learn from their mistakes and improve their lives, though it doesn’t happen that often. This teacher was smart to listen to the advice of the student, and the student was brave to write that essay the way she did.

At the end of the day, everyone in this situation handled themselves well and very maturely. It is nice when there are stories like this where everything works out the way it should. Sadly, this doesn’t happen nearly as often as people would like.