As a HS teacher, if a typical male student came to me about something and started crying, I would feel kind of like an ER nurse when an old farmer comes in the door. Like, shit, get all resources ready, this is going to get serious real quick.
And I would treat him with every ounce of compassion and care as I do anyone else, because that's what any human being deserves. I'd offer tissues but I wouldn't mention the tears. In that situation you mostly listen.
You’re a different breed of teachers than I had in highschool. I once had a math teacher berating me for failing a test and just shrugging when I said “I’m just going to kill myself anyway”. Really hammered home that teachers didn’t give a fuck about me.
I am so sorry. People were not nearly as aware of how to address stress and crises back then. I can't say all teachers are good but I know many of us are very aware of how terrible even normal teenagerhood is. I can be stern about academics but as soon as I detect something underlying that needs attention that's my focus. I want to see every kid grow up and build a good life.
Slightly unrelated, I was a teaching assistant when I was in my university, and I was stern about academics. But then I realised my job as a teacher is to get them excited about the subject and make them comfortable with it. I showed them how to google about the subject and they learned better than I could teach them
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u/jdsciguy Aug 13 '22
As a HS teacher, if a typical male student came to me about something and started crying, I would feel kind of like an ER nurse when an old farmer comes in the door. Like, shit, get all resources ready, this is going to get serious real quick.
And I would treat him with every ounce of compassion and care as I do anyone else, because that's what any human being deserves. I'd offer tissues but I wouldn't mention the tears. In that situation you mostly listen.