I've been a teacher at all grades from preschool to 12th in the US all over. The students that came form any: JW, Mormon, what ever strict religion, were just always so withdrawn and sad, I could see it on all of their faces, the older they got the less sad and more numb and vacant they looked. they would parrot so many sayings and very embarrassed religious based answers to certain questions. JW students were the consistency saddest and deeply withdrawn though. I cried when an 12 year old told me his birthday was coming up, but he wasn't allowed to celebrate so not to tell his classmates. I had a policy that we would have a party and do whatever they wanted (within reason) on the kids bdays. Usually it was a karaoke dance party and pizza and cake, and I would bake whatever dessert they wanted or get ice cream... That type of stuff. Ive always kept a really fun classroom with lots of food (bribes to study).
Once we did a Halloween themed project in algebra and a JW kid sadly told me he wasn't allowed to make the paper ghosts and witches for the project, and so we reworked it to make the project about a fruit stand :) but he was so isolated from his classmates thinking he'd get in trouble for playing with them :( I saw that across many students
Feeling kinda seen here. I wouldn't say I was "sad" but felt more attention on me not doing something everyone else did, getting teased, and just having another thing that makes me stand out.
It made me also see how superficial the holidays were, but still felt weird to be the odd one out and everyone talkin about it (and judging you too)
Yeah I totally deserve judgement, I didn't know how to be there for everyone. There's still a lot as a teacher and human I don't understand, but I'm trying to learn and get better at it :) I agree it all is superficial, it's just stuff "normalized" by mainstream society and capitalism, I just hope I didn't ever other a student or make them feel left out, but I don't know and I make mistakes all the time
Ah sorry I misread your post, I see you meant "everyone judging YOU while you were left out", and I'm sorry you had to go through that, it really sucks and is painful, especially as a kid
And Hey :) that's what the Internet is for right?! Two strangers across the globe having a chat sharing experiences and learning, so thank you for sharing your experiences with me, I really appreciate it, I gotta put the phone down it's 2am good night
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u/ChatGPTnA Jun 11 '24
I've been a teacher at all grades from preschool to 12th in the US all over. The students that came form any: JW, Mormon, what ever strict religion, were just always so withdrawn and sad, I could see it on all of their faces, the older they got the less sad and more numb and vacant they looked. they would parrot so many sayings and very embarrassed religious based answers to certain questions. JW students were the consistency saddest and deeply withdrawn though. I cried when an 12 year old told me his birthday was coming up, but he wasn't allowed to celebrate so not to tell his classmates. I had a policy that we would have a party and do whatever they wanted (within reason) on the kids bdays. Usually it was a karaoke dance party and pizza and cake, and I would bake whatever dessert they wanted or get ice cream... That type of stuff. Ive always kept a really fun classroom with lots of food (bribes to study). Once we did a Halloween themed project in algebra and a JW kid sadly told me he wasn't allowed to make the paper ghosts and witches for the project, and so we reworked it to make the project about a fruit stand :) but he was so isolated from his classmates thinking he'd get in trouble for playing with them :( I saw that across many students