“So, if I wanted to conquer this castle and its inhabitants, how would I do it?” I asked my grade 9 students on Thursday morning. I had drawn a cartoon castle on the board with people on top and me (all stick figures of course) on the ground with a gun. Aaron, my administrator had spoken with me the night before about how the other teachers and students complain about the grade 9 students, that they are out of control and we need to do something about it. It appears they are compromising character in little ways outside of class and it is beginning to snowball. Our mission is to nip it in the bud before it is a full-blown avalanche!
“Shoot the people!” I can, but then what happens after they are gone? “More replace them.” Yeah, what else can I shoot? “The castle!” Yeah, totally! If I destroy the castle then the people become mine too! “Here’s the deal,” I say as I start writing on the board again. “These people represent your actions, Katak blocking teachers in the hall and saying ‘I love you’, throwing trash everywhere, hitting classroom windows with balls when the teachers are teaching, picking on the little kids…etc. The castle is your foundational beliefs or values, the motive behind your actions. Now, for me, my castle is God and the Bible. If you show me where my actions don’t fit the Bible then I yield. The Bible is my foundation or my value system. Most of you don’t have this castle and I can’t make it your castle. My problem? I have no idea what your castle is! Where do you place your value?”
We listed things on the board: parents, friends, games, money, free time…that really didn’t help me too much. “Why do I care?” I continued. “How many will remember me in a few years? Probably none, maybe a few…why should I care about what you do now? School is not just about book smarts. What else do you learn?” They came up with communicating with people their age, younger than them, adults, and authority figures. “You also learn about responsibility and start to acquire work habits for the future. If you don’t learn this stuff now, the harder it will be later. Help me shoot down your castle! Help me define it for you!”
I walked away sad. Sad that they don’t have the same castle as I do, sad that most of them still won’t get it and will face hard times in the future, sad that I can’t reach them. My castle tells me that the same builder that built my castle is the only one that can build theirs. My duty is still to give them truth but the gravity of their sinful nature with no hope, hit me hard that day. How can we as teachers destroy the behaviors without attacking their castle? And how can we attack their castle without knowing what it is?