Have you ever come across a student who is pleasantly charming and full of spirit? The kind of student who can make a room glow with their mannerisms and big heart. Some students just have a way of making you feel at ease by their optimistic view of life. To be so young and display such characteristics must mean that they rely upon family or spiritual beliefs. Either of those isn't bad when the results are so positive. But the issue is whether or not good behavior is mistaken for ones spirituality and if so, how does a teacher separate the two?
Schools have students who are innately good and outwardly display spiritual characteristics. Those are the students who are kind, gentle, compassionate, respectful, well mannered, groomed and well behaved. Do they have an edge in school? Will a teacher most likely give a student like this the benefit of the doubt? It certainly is an interesting question to which some may answer yes, but not all. Are these students catered to and do teachers call on these students more to answer questions, become group leaders, run errands, and are likely to forgive them when they do wrong. Students with a sound background and family values tied to spirituality are well liked and treated with respect unlike other students on the opposite end of the spectrum who are constantly the source of disruption inside a classroom. Can we make the leap to say that family and church values are widely appreciated by teachers in public schools? If this is true, then why aren't more teachers leaving public schools for religious based school settings.
Even though teachers have been noted for saying they wished they had 20 students like the one who is well mannered, does it make that good behavioral student comfortable? The amount of attention given to a student can vary greatly dependent upon the teacher. Some teachers are very grateful for the students who display spiritual characteristics. These students are the ones you seem to be able to count on to walk the straight and narrow, feel a sense of remorse if needed. For some teachers, spiritual students can bring a sense of calmness to a rowdy class; a sense of hope to a disruptive day; a sense of joy to a sad moment. These are the students that some teachers wish they had an entire class full of them, year after year. Are these students sent from heaven above, or are teachers making a correlation between good behavior and spirituality? This is a topic totes the line of separation between church and state or is this possibly how some educators circumvent the two.