Can *anybody* explain this to me? Because I sure as fuck don't get it.

[Igel]

23. Two possibilities.

Not mutually exclusive.

1. The guy was generally liked and friendly and helped a lot of kids. Perhaps because it's football, perhaps not. One officer assigned to a school I worked at got along really well with the students. And still bruised kids, no doubt, when he frog-walked them from the building after battery, drug dealing, arson, etc.

2. The student was disliked for her behavior. A lot of kids may not like school, but if a student is disruptive it makes their life harder--they dislike school, want to pass, and have to deal with a student who constantly disrupts their environment. It creates a stressed out teacher, which creates a more stressful class; it creates lower achievement levels because time is spent not on providing a free and appropriate education but in maintaining order. I had a class that actually clapped when it learned this one kid was finally sent to an alternative ed program for 6 weeks.

Note that low SES kids are more susceptible to having their learning really hurt by class disruptions. It takes 3-4 kids that like the disruption, who are rewarded for being moderate disruptors, to create problems. Or one kid who's really, really good at it. Often the "reward" is attention, or the sense of power at controlling the classroom.

Empathy has a good side, it has a bad side.