If you’re anything like me, you’ve run into issues with some of your classmates being disrespectful and disruptive. This is a given, there will almost always be a token troublemaker at some point in time. But something concerning I’ve noticed is how the number of disruptive students is on the rise. 

Countless times I’ve seen a teacher spend more time pushing back issues in a classroom making them unable to push the students up to harder. It’s like a game of tug of war, when really, it shouldn’t be a competition, but the kind of student I brought up previously is making it one. School is something not many like, and I get that. To many it’s a slog to get through and seemingly a waste of time. But looking past that, there’s so many positives I see being taken for granted by people not willing to look for them. 

So, a question I’ve been trying to answer is “Why would people be acting like this?” I’ve had many bad days where I’ve been rude to people without reason, but what’s resulting in this constant upward trend? This is where I realized, there is no single explanation. Many people come from many different backgrounds, so it would be trivial to analyze each of them. What is important instead to focus on is how we can bring that down and let the teachers help us by doing their job. 

The way that I see people tripping up is a lack of empathy for everyone involved in the system. A quick look around can show you that we really are all in the same boat. We’re all in school for the same amount of time as you so why bring us down? There’s no benefit to acting up, save a small laugh. Then what if someone who’s being disrupted is having a bad day already and now, they’re unable to even focus? I see this only leading to a spread of this lack of empathy, like an epidemic. 

There’s a possibility that this would affect the teacher as well. I’ve personally seen some teachers crack and make things more difficult for everyone, which would in turn only spread the issue further. This connects back to my initial point; people who are hit with this unempathetic epidemic are blinded to how school is benefiting them, and how it is a great resource given to everyone for free. So, a solution I see is to nip the issue in the bud. To make school serve its original purpose, we should bring each other up and bring the trend down.