Abysmal Creatures

I became a substitute teacher for the third and fourth time today.  My first and second was last Monday where I taught students in the Open High School System of Makati High - students who don't regularly come to class due to financial problems but want to learn. They were okay. I can handle them but what I've experienced today was totally and absolutely abysmal!  I handled two sections in third year today. I have very minimal problems with the first section but the second one was a BAPTISM OF FIRE!

I have never been put in a situation wherein students will deliberately provoke, mock, and disrespect me!  I asked them to copy the notes that I've posted in front but many male students didn't follow me at all! Some where texting in front of my face, some were laughing and joking, some where arguing and cursing, and some were really have no manners at all!  My goodness! It was like facing the devil himself - with multiple reincarnations through those beastly and amoral creatures!  Some obeyed me and finished copying on time but many where totally lacking in manners.  I think that since they know that I'm just a student-teacher, they think that they can manhandle me. But I believed that I tried my best to be patient and tolerant of all their mischiefs. I know that some of the naughty ones were intimidated by me - I have a loud voice and I spoke to one of them in English wherein he wasn't able to answer me back! (in the Philippines, if you'll talk in English to someone who is incapable of conversing using it, the person will definitely get tongue-tied). 

I told the head of our department about the class' general behaviour and she told me that even their other teachers are complaining about their attitude. I know that as a teacher, you must be really 200% patient but those kids were totally the spawns of satan!  I just feel bad for their other teachers who have no choice but to deal with them until March 2010!

Also, I always believe that if a person always wants to get the attention of others by doing negative stuff, that person has issues.  Maybe, those kids were left to tend for themselves or their parents don't have enough time for them. The place they grew up in is also a factor when it comes to their development (or lack thereof) as a human being. Maybe the place they grew up in is full of misery and anxiety.  If I'm going to contemplate about them without my earlier prejudices, maybe the thing that really those kids want is to get the attention of others (attention-seekers) because they were never properly supervised at home.  I just feel sad for them because not only they have problems when it comes to their manners, I think they are also struggling academically. If they don't have notes, how can they study for their test?! 

In a public school, you can encounter all sorts of human species.  Yep, I totally believed that now!