|
I think the best friends dynamic is different between girls than it is between boys in many ways. I'm guessing none of you gentlemen have ever heard, "WELL, I'm your BEST FRIEND, so you HAVE to do what I say."
And cyn, at the middle school level, regulating social stuff is a part of being an educator--it isn't the teacher's choice to have to do this stuff, but it's the nature of what the modern school is like. Kids bring this crap into the classroom and it affects how they learn, and it affects how other students learn. In order to minimize disruption, teachers and administrators have to handle it before it happens. Sure, you could say, don't bring it into the classroom, but with adolescents that's next to impossible. Further, one of the consequences (a positive one) I see with this is that it may lead to less cliques in high school and down the road, if everyone is encouraged to socialize with everyone else. Having worked (or attended) in both less cliquish middle schools/high schools and more cliquish middle schools/high schools, I would choose to work in the former over the latter every single time. They have an entirely different vibe.
It sucks that teachers have to interfere with stuff like this, but it is how things are now. I know a number of anecdotes related to stuff like this that I can't share here, unfortunately. I'm sure teachers would rather be spending their time on becoming better educators.
__________________
If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
|