The two questions which put student’s opinions into perspective

I’ve previously written about the best piece of teaching advice I’ve received. To sum up, it is the remember… your students are just teenagers. No random fifteen year old should be able to seriously affect your worldview or sense of self worth.

Over the last few years in the classroom, I’ve developed a series of mental tests which remind me of the truth that my original supervising teacher imparted to me.

Do your student choose their own bedsheets?

Two years ago (or even currently) does the student before you buy their own underwear?

Frankly, if the answer to these two questions is a negative, allow this to place their opinion into an appropriate perspective.

If someone doesn’t have the agency, ability or maturity to choose what they sleep on or the patterns on their undergarments, then their words should hold little weight.

Why?

Because they are being said by children.

And no one who’s mum makes their bed or purchases their undies should be able to genuinely rock your emotional regulatory gyroscope.