In the Beginning....

They can be found in every middle and high school classroom throughout the land.  They slump into your classroom, fall into their chairs, and proceed to do nothing at all.  They are the Lazy Students.  The better examples of the breed are quiet and refuse to interact with everything and everyone save their iPhones.  They are tolerable because their inertia allows you to teach.  The annoying subspecies of Lazy Student craves attention, and will act like a circus monkey to get it.  They prevent everyone from getting down to work.  But all Lazy Students share the same mantra (which they chant endlessly), "You can't make me do it."

Ever wonder where these twerps learn how to become Lazy Students?  They start in first grade, during music class.  (Probably kindergarten, but my tale takes place in a first grade classroom.)  The little six-year old African-American boy decided three weeks ago that he does not like music class.  Two weeks ago, I sent him to his desk for talking to his neighbors instead of singing the song.  Last week, I entered the room to find him sitting under a table while the rest of the class was sitting in a circle ready to sing.  The teacher walked him over to the circle, with the threat of calling grandma.  He refused to sit down.  Fine, I told him, you are welcome to stand.  Then he got bored and started messing around with an easel.  The teacher took him away and had him help her.  No reprimand, no nothing.  This week, the boy spent all of music time reading at his desk.  The teacher did not require him to join our circle or participate in class.

In other words, this six-year old has learned that if he does not like what his class is doing in school, he does not have to do it.  No one will force him to anything that he doesn't like.  Not his teachers, not his grandma, no one.  He is entitled to do whatever he likes, whenever he chooses without fear of punishment or reprisal.

I am confident in my prediction this young boy will shortly become a behavioral nightmare.  By the time he reaches junior high, he will be the terror of his school.  By high school, he will have a probation officer and drop out at the first opportunity.

All because no one had the nerve to teach him the most important lesson of all.  Life is full of things you don't want to do, but must do anyway, otherwise there will be many painful consequences in the future.