I went to a high school where there was only grades 10-12 in the building, but it still held about 2,000 students on the average year.
For the first two years I attended we had a great principal. Why was he great? Because he gave us all freedom and respect. You have an hour off? Great, do what you want, go to the library, go walk in the halls, hell leave the building, just don't disturb classes, and have common sense.
The summer before my final year this great principal retired. The replacement? A total bitch. Did she give us respect or allow us freedom? Nope. Have a free hour? Sit in commons for attendence. Then, if you have your student ID (used absolutely zero times in my first two years there) you can go to the library, where you can sign in if you show them your ID too. Then, if you want to walk the halls to go to your locker or go to the bathroom, you need a pass.
What happened? The number of students walking in the halls increased 10 fold. A legitamate 10 fold. Teachers had to close the doors to their classrooms because the noise was so distracting. And these fancy regulations? Well, you're working with about 95% of the staff that thinks the new rules are shit. You're working with 100% of the students that think the new rules are shit. The result? The rules were never enforced. The new rules were horribly enforced and since more focus was placed on these new rules, the old ones started to fall away. It got to the point where I would just see how far I could go before getting in trouble. The problem? I didn't. I walked the hallways all year without a pass, was never stopped once. Well, stopped, I had a few teachers talk to me "have a pass?" "nope" "can you come with me?" "nope, I'm going to (fill in important place)" "ok" That was with teachers I didn't know. Teachers I did know wouldn't even consider turning in a student they had. If we weren't doing something important in class and it was worktime or such, I got up and left a couple times. I didn't "sign-out" of class, or the school, I just got my stuff and left. Nothing.
The moral?
If people treat teenagers with respect, they will most likely receive respect and good behavior. If they treat teenagers like underlings it just breeds bad behavior.
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One day an Englishman, a Scotsman, and an Irishman walked into a pub together. They each bought a pint of Guinness. Just as they were about to enjoy their creamy beverage, three flies landed in each of their pints. The Englishman pushed his beer away in disgust. The Scotsman fished the fly out of his beer and continued drinking it, as if nothing had happened. The Irishman, too, picked the fly out of his drink but then held it out over the beer and yelled "SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT, YOU BASTARD!"
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