The frustration of bratty little foreign kids

Sometimes the job can be all right. Other times, it can be just massively frustrating. Yesterday, was one of those times.

Most people who know me know that I'm pretty easy going on most things, but there are some specific issues that I do find myself to be passionate about. One of them reared its head in class yesterday when one of my little snot nose kids decided he had a new insult word he wanted to start using throughout the entire class. The word was Nigger.

First, it took me a few hearings of this to even realize what he was saying, and then I just stopped the class and told him that word was MASSIVELY inappropriate. Well, tell this to a 12 year old kid, and suddenly it's THE WORD to use. I then stopped class completely and explained in what had to be a five minute diatribe about how some words are swear words and kids can find them "cool" to use. I didn't give examples, but he was quite willing to produce a few of them to fill in the swear word gap we were obviously having.

I then explained that the word is not something you "insult" your friend with because it's not that kind of word. I then went on to explain about how the word is used specifically through hate, that to call someone that name is to truly hate that person. Not to be mad at him and think you've come up with a good insult, but to REALLY, TRULY WITHOUT A SHADOW OF DOUBT, AND FOR ALL TIME hate that person and everything he or she stands for. You would have to hate that person so much that you would want them dead and would be willing to give your life to make sure that person dies. THAT MUCH HATE.

I then went on to explain that not only was it about hate, but that anyone who would use this word towards another, at least in the United States, would reveal how little education he or she has, how disgusting a creature that person would be, and how no good person would ever have any respect for that person ever again. I said, if that's the kind of person you want to be, then you should be the kind of person to use that word. I had to keep stopping them, especially him, from interrupting me with an attempt at using the word as a joke until they got the picture. About four minutes into it, I think they finally realized this was NOT a word to be used in Duane's class EVER again.

I, of course, didn't get into the whole situation of how African-Americans sometimes call EACH OTHER that name, because that would just confuse them and somehow make them think it was "cool" to use somehow.

Again, I'm usually pretty easy going in these classes. Hearing that word coming from a little 12 year old kid really just set me off to no end.

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Back to my log of my latest novel, Rumors of War. I am now at 9797 words.

Stumble It!