Advice Is Needed

China
May 6, 2007 11:49pm CST
More than ten days ago, one of the girls in my class stole some money from her roommate and she was doubted about this. She was summoned to her headteacher for this. She refused in the first two days, but later admitted that she did steal money from her roommate,adding it was for some revenge to her roommate for she didn't like her the way she was.Her excuse sounds ridiculous.Anyhow, she seems to be regretting what she had done to her roommate,but she feels shy to come back to school to study. I am trying to think of a way to help the girl out by having her come back to study. I am wondering if it is a good idea for the whole class to say to her:"Come back to study. We have excused you for this and believe that you will be a good member of our class." I am trying to do this for the girl's future. Do you guys think it is ok for me to help solve this problem?
6 people like this
22 responses
@livelily (141)
• China
8 May 07
I am sorry for that my English is so poor , it result in I can't depict clear my view, so I write in English , hope it is helpful for you. ????????????????,?????????,????????20?????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????,??,????????,??????? ???????????????,???????????????????,??????????????,???????????????????????????????????????,??????????,????????????????????
@livelily (141)
• China
9 May 07
Ah~~I am very happy when I saw your response. ^_^ Yeah, you are a very good teach, I am sure your students would follow your advice. All anybody ever make mistake, more or less, big or small, They need get once break if who will correct in future , maybe your other students also make some mistakes, but you had not give up them, ??????????????,????????????,???????????????????,?????????????,???????????????????????????????????.....???????????????,?????????,??????????????...???????????????????,???????????(???????????,??????????????????????),???????????,????????? ??????,????,?????????,???????????????????,??????,?????????,??????,?????,??????????????,?????????,???????????????(??,??????????,?????),???????????????,??????????????????????
• China
8 May 07
Thank you for sharing with me how your headteacher dealt with the same situation which happened to one one of the boys in your class when you were at school years ago. It is helpful. I hope my studnets won't insist their stubborn idea in accepting this poor girl. thanks again, Miss Livelily.
1 person likes this
• China
9 May 07
I hope my students won't insist on their stubborn idea and will follow my advice. Thanks.
1 person likes this
• United States
7 May 07
well she certainly should be ashamed of herself. and part of the "punishment" is having to deal with the consequences. and the consequences are how other ppl are going to treat her now. sounds like you like this girl. and that is a sweet thing to try and help her out. you can only try of course. wont hurt anybody to broach the subject with your classmates and see if they feel the same way.
2 people like this
• China
7 May 07
Though I am not the head teacher of this class, I teach them English. I love all of my students and hope them to feel like being in one big family. Therefore when this kind of shameful thing happens, I just want to do something for them to fill the gap between this girl and the whole class. Although she has made a mistake, I think, we still need to offer her an opportunity for correction. I haven't talked this to my class yet, but plan to. I have no idea what they will think about it once I tell them about my idea. Thanks for your discussion!
• United States
19 Sep 07
Yeah I'm with you, what do you expect when you do something bad? Do you expect everyone to understand and love you for it? I also understand that he wants to help her out because everyone makes mistakes.
2 people like this
• China
19 Sep 07
Hello, gradyslady. thanks for your support. I appreicate it, but after so many months, I think that I need to let your know that she is no longer on campus now. She didn't feel happy to be in the same school again and is now working somewhere. Maybe that is the best solution for her.
1 person likes this
@lkbooi (16070)
• Malaysia
12 Mar 08
Hi jisir, I am coming now, the poor little girl might be one of those sleeping princesses. 11 months had passed since the occurrence of the undesirable incidence for the poor girl. I hope she is doing well and enjoying her school life happily now. I always believe that time could heal hurts and sorrows. Any hardship or sadness could gradually fade itself in our memory though some might remain inerasable. Recalling back, I understand that her strong feeling of dislike could always tempt her to such a course of action. Anyhow I presume that she didn’t have any malicious motive as she was still young and inexperienced in life then. If you could give her some appropriate counseling and encouragement, she could definitely be able to overcome her psychological barrier and regained confidence in her study. You could create a favorable atmosphere in the class for her to say sorry to her classmate whom she disliked before. I believe this arrangement would work well as children would always listen to their respected and beloved teacher. By the way I couldn’t make any uploading since yesterday. This is my 3rd trial (every trial needs about 40 minutes). I hope I could able to post this time. Happy posting and bye!
2 people like this
• China
12 Mar 08
Hello dear lkbooi. I am sorry to say that this poor girl finally gave up her study chance after she came back for one week. She could not face the situation that had happened already and it was the same with all the others in the same class, though I tried to help her with my effort. She is now working somewhere near her home. I think that this is something that will never be forgotten by her as a lesson. That is: we cannot do anything bad against someone even if we really have no preference of someone. It is a lot to her. I hope that she will enjoy her life she is having now. By the way they will graduate this July. Thank you so much for your considerate response.
2 people like this
@Norstar (694)
• India
15 May 07
Williamjisir, I just responded to your reply to my earlier response (please see it). Then, I read further and I am glad that you are getting support from more people. Now that it is known to all, let the girl take the courage and say openly that she did a wrong thing. She realises it now and has decided not to do such a thing again and therefore she should be forgiven for her past misdeed and given a chance to build her future. All the best.
2 people like this
• China
18 Nov 07
Hello Norstar again after six months of your response. I am sorry to tell you that this girl student came back to study for about half a month before she left school without coming back to study again as she felt lonesome without other students being as kind and friendly to her as before. She is now at home. I have no idea what she is doing now as she feels shy to contact any one of us. So from this matter, it shows that doing a bad deed is for sure to influence one's life and work. I do hope that this girl would learn a good lesson from this and will be smooth in her coming life and work. Thanks again for your further response and I am deeply sorry for the late response to you. Have a good time, my dear Norstar friend.
1 person likes this
@Norstar (694)
• India
7 May 07
Sir Williamji, It is indeed a great job you would do if you could get back the girl to school to study. It is not easy to know why she did what she did. May be she was compelled for some reasom. What is important is to know her point of view. After all she is a child. To err is human, to forgive, divine. But I suggest a modification to the narration the classmates should put forth to her. It could be something that would not make her feel let down. She confessed and this is a good beginning. let the slogan be something like this, " Now that you have realised that you have done something that one should not do under normal circumstances, we would be very happy if you continue to be with us. You have courage to admit your mistakes and you have determined that you would not repeat the mistake. We would be glad to have a person like you as a friend. We are missing you so come back to the class and things would be same as before." Give a child a chance to correct herself. Williamji, I am very curious to know how "ji" got added to your name and what it means.
@Norstar (694)
• India
8 May 07
Williamjisir, Thanks alot for the response. I am happy that you find my suggestion of some value. I am of the opinion that a child should be given all the encouragement and support to correct his/ her mistakes. Even grown ups commit mistakes and the society has devised systems, such as jails, to give him/ her an opportunity and facilities to correct the mistakes. I am happy that you have this responsibility on your shoulders. I pray and hope for your success because you may encounter some resistance and opposition from certain quarters. I wish you and all other concerned people every success.
• China
8 May 07
My students really didn't support me last night when I tried to persuade them to follow my advice. They just said that it is a shameful thing to steal money from someone else. Not easy to do that, but I won't give up. I talked to the girl whose money was stolen and she said that if it were her, her parents and she herself would absolutely give up coming to study in the same school. Because she has lost her face already with students from other classes knowing about this matter. You see, bad news always spreads so fast. I have no idea what to do next facing such a severe situation, even if I won't give up. It reminds me of the saying, "You reap what you sow." It is a good lesson for that girl. Hope she will learn something from that as a mirror to mention her about this matter every now and then.
1 person likes this
• China
8 May 07
First of all, thanks very much for your discussion and advice. It sounds great indeed and I will adopt it. As to my name Jisir, it goes like this. To begin with, do you watch HongKong TV series or movies? They like to use Chinese English when they call someone whose surname is,take me for an example, Ji, and followed by the surname, they love to add sir. Therefore Jisir comes into being. Thanks again for it.
1 person likes this
@ciades (1623)
• Philippines
16 Mar 08
yeah ofcourse dear. Your concerned to the girl its a very big help to her. She's still a child and by stealing from her roommate money is not a block to stop in moving towards for her good future. You as a teacher. You know how to resolve on that situation. Encouraging her and give another chances will motivate her to move on..Important is she know what she did was wrong and she feel sorry with it. There's only few people like you who give concerned to the other futures right now dear...So good luck for it. happy posting.:)
2 people like this
• China
16 Mar 08
Hello dear ciades. Thank you very much for your concern to this poor girl and your nice comment with appreciation. This poor girl did not stay as long as one week before she found that she would not stay any longer. She is now having her own business by running a garment shop. It is an unhappy experience in her life. I hope that she will be able to come out of this shadow without getting her life influenced much. Thanks again.
1 person likes this
@cheongyc (5072)
• Malaysia
16 Mar 08
Hello williamjisir, I am sad reading the story about this young little girl. I hope she is fine now after almost 1 year time. The last I read about it is she choose to be alone and away from the school. Actually I feel that the punishment she received is more than she deserved. Why she was not relocated to another school and given a chance to start all over again? Just curious and really hope that she is getting better. Because if this kind of issue is not resolved, she will still be haunted by bad experience even when she had grown up to be an adult.
1 person likes this
@cheongyc (5072)
• Malaysia
16 Mar 08
It's good for her and I wish her all the best. I am glad to know that although she no longer study in the school, but she is now independent and able to make her own living. Of course she had learnt the lesson, everybody made mistakes and should be given chance to correct ourselves.
1 person likes this
• China
16 Mar 08
Hello dear cheongyc. I am so sorry to say that she is no longer studyig at school. But it is good that she is working now. It is said that she is running a garment shop of her own sponsored by her parents. I think that she has already learned much from this lesson that will be never be forgotten in the hope that she will be fine without that being haunted in mind as always. Thank you so much for your concern again, my dear friend.
1 person likes this
@ciades (1623)
• Philippines
16 Mar 08
So, i guess she's fine right now. Greatful that she fight for it.
2 people like this
@jayarajgr (816)
• India
7 May 07
As a teacher, thats exactly what you should do. Everybody makes mistakes. Since she regret her acts, its time to bring her back.
1 person likes this
• China
8 May 07
I tried this already yesterday. They didn't seem to accept her again. It is not a very easy job to do. I will try one more time to see what they will say. Thanks.
• China
11 May 07
It was aired out the moment when they started to be suspicious about her. Right now, she is still shy to come to school. I asked the headteacher if she would come back. He said Yes. But I think it takes time for her as she is really having a hard time. She will probably give up coming, I guess.
• India
25 Mar 08
my advice is tat don't do anything. this will cause her to be more shy. time will heal her. she will autometically return to school
1 person likes this
• China
26 Mar 08
Thank you, mahakarsha. She finally gave up though she came back to school for one week. This term will be the last term for her as all the students will leave school in June. She is working now. Thanks.
• Canada
26 Mar 08
Although this discussion was posted 11 months ago and I am sure the situation has resolved. However, the underlying questions remain in situations like these and therefore I decided to add my views to what is a rather timeless because at a core level situation like these are really about self-accountability. Whatever the reason this young person needs to learn that there is a cause and effect to every choice made. In my view just offering 'I'm sorry' wouldn't be enough to show she actually learned a valuable life lesson from the choices she made. In the event that she is not guided to a deeper understanding about the ripple effect of what she did...it could happen again. In my view 'real' apologies involve an ability to accept misdeeds...and state it. The second part is in admitting they did wrong...and 'owning it...and thirdly a sincere request to the injured party about what she could do to make up for it. For the whole class to invite her back without asking her to handle her 'stuff' could give her the idea that it was not such a big deal after all...when in realty stealing...then lying about it is a big deal! Well...from my perspective anyway. Good topic...even though it is an older one! Raia
• China
26 Mar 08
Hello dear perspective friend. Thanks for your nice comment. I enjoy the detailed analysis to this topic or issue that happend eleven months ago. It is well analysed, but I am sorry to say that this young girl came back to school for only one week before she decided to leave forever without coming back to study again because there was already a gap between her and the whole class, leaving no space for her improvement. She was suffering and bearing the bitterness caused by her own misdeeds. After leaving this class or school, she started to work. It was said that she was doing garment business by having her own garment shop. I hope that she has learned a lot from this lesson and is doing well in her business. Thank you so much, Raia.
@laurika (4532)
• United States
26 Nov 07
I am glad you think so nice about your student, william. I think I would do the same thing like you want to do. It is really her future and it is important and if you will not do anything and see her maybe one day on the street, you will feel guilty. Also I understand she stole something, but each of us should get a another chance. And maybe she got really good reason to stole the money, i mean we never realyy could know. I hope the girl willc ome back to school.
1 person likes this
• China
27 Nov 07
Hello laurika. Thanks for your nice comments. But I am sorry to let you know that this girl came back to stay at school for about ten days before she left as it would be not the same situation for both her and her classmates. Sighing. Anyway it could be a good lesson for her. I wish that she would have a good life. Thanks again for your response, dear friend.
@laurika (4532)
• United States
27 Nov 07
Yeah we have to at least hope taht she would take a lesson from it.
1 person likes this
@marketing07 (6266)
• South Korea
15 Mar 08
hi william i missed the fun..im sleeping i think..anyway you have all the great answer i will say goodluck,,
1 person likes this
• China
16 Mar 08
Oh, really? I am glad that you did. Thank you, dear marketing friend.
• Italy
25 Mar 08
You said she already decided to leave forever as she found the relationship between her and all the other students hard. I'm sad of it Why don't she can attend school now? A year has passed, she could find new classmates who don't know about her story (she could pretend she wasn't attending school because of wourk) and she could start again
1 person likes this
• China
25 Mar 08
She is now working instead of studying any more. I am really sad that she could not go on with her study. Thank you very much for your concern, my dear friend.
• Philippines
30 Mar 08
It's something that's hard to forget. For sure the one who stole the money had earn a bad reputation in the school. My advice is first - to give back the money she stole and tell how sincerely she was sorry about what she did. After that, if she wants to back to study, then all she gotta do is come to class everyday. Time heals all wounds (as they say), so maybe in time, everyone will forget the incident.
1 person likes this
• China
30 Mar 08
Hello dear jennifer. Thank you so much for the response. She is not at school any longer, but working somewhere now. I am really sorry for the mistake she has done, but I do hope that she is enjoying her work now. Thanks, friend.
@MisterPlus (1915)
• Philippines
30 Nov 07
It is a good move to admit that you did something wrong and that alone can convince her that she did something right for everyone to look up to her.
• China
30 Nov 07
Hehe, that could be a nice idea, dear friend. But what is sad to say is that she is no longer at school after she came back for around ten days because she could not be in the same situation as she used to be. Anyway she is happy with her first job somewhere in a firm. Thanks for your response, dear friend.
• Philippines
14 Mar 08
Just by encouraging her to go back to school is enough to let her know that her past actions doesn't define who she is. I do hope she has gone back to school.
1 person likes this
• China
16 Mar 08
Hello dear onewickedsoul. We did encourage her to come back to school, but she did not stay long before she found it too difficult for her to go on with her good relationship with all the other classmates. She gave up in the end though we tried our best to keep her studying in school. I hope that she will know better how to deal with people and things in her life later on. Thanks very much for your concern, dear friend.
@yinaiquan (106)
• China
26 Nov 07
You are really warm heart.You can help her too. But I think one person must learn how to be responsible for his or her action.This is actual very important.She feels shy to come back to school to study.If she can not overcomes it,she will be unsuccessful in her future. This is actual a common issue.The person after 80's have not learn how to be responsible for their action.
1 person likes this
• China
26 Nov 07
Hello dear yinaiquan. Thanks so much for your nice comment. You are right that how to be responsible for their behaviour is really of great importance for people after the 80s as most of them are the only child in the family and get easily spoiled by their parents and grandparents, which has really become an issue. Thank you again, dear friend.
• China
20 Nov 07
yes ,at first ,we must know that everybody will make mistakes in our life . we should forgive her mistake and welcome her coming back ! i think you should do something for her ,will you ? maybe you can ask your classmates to write a letter that expressing you all had forgetten that case and you all never think that matters much and show your carelessness and warm heart. she will know you don't look down upon her . is that ok ?
1 person likes this
• China
25 Nov 07
Hello dear kittypinky. Yes, the girl came back to study after a month, but she didn't stay long as she didn't feel comfortable in the class any more. I am sorry to say that she left school and is now working somewhere instead. This has become a good lesson for my poor girl and I guess that she will be a better person in the future from the lesson. Thank you so much for your advice and response, dear kittypinky. Have a good day.
• United States
18 Nov 07
That's OK. If she's a kid, you should tell her to come back to class, and apologize for what she did.
• China
18 Nov 07
Hello csyphrett. Yes, I called her to come back to study and she came back indeed, but later she still thought that she had to give it up as the situation for her was not nice in the class. Anyway she will be a good girl later on, I guess, because this will be a good lesson for her to always remember not to make the same mistake again. Thank you so much for your response, my dear new friend. I extend my warmest welcome to you, dear friend. Happy mylotting.
1 person likes this
@pastorkayte (2255)
• United States
25 Nov 07
Yes, I agree have the class talk to her, forgive her and help her make amends she needs her education.
1 person likes this
• China
25 Nov 07
Hello pastorkayte. Thanks for your response, dear friend. It is right that she needs her education and make some amendments. She came to school after a month, but stayed for only about ten days as she didn't feel as good as she used to as before. I am sorry that she has to pay for what she has done. Thanks again, dear friend.