AIBU: Negative Stereotyping

[MiddletonMama]

My 10 year old son's teacher calls him the Class Clown in a derogatory way. I'm fuming about this. I accept that my son may be misbehaving in class and disruptive but surely teachers are better equipped to deal with this than resorting to name calling and labelling with a negative stereotype. My son moves up to high school next year and I am worried he will carry this label with him and always be the class clown and never have aspirations to be anything else. AIBU?

Maybe your son should behave himself then.

His behaviour will determine if he carries the label with him, at secondary school he'll have lots of teachers and not one will know or care what his Y6 teacher thought of him.

Maybe it should be a time to talk to your son about his behaviour then

She could call him the Class Son of a Snowflake?

Tell Your Son to behave.

What are you doing about his aspirations?

Perhaps you should focus more on why he's been called this?

So many precious parents these days who would sooner come down on school than actually deal with their child's bad behaviour.

Hahahahahhaahhahahhahaha - oh, are you serious?

Pretty obvious he needs to change his behaviour. I think the class clown label is a polite way of saying he's a pain in the arse.

Your son is in charge of his own reputation, and you are in charge of your son. Maybe you should channel your outrage towards his inappropriate behaviour instead.

Why don’t you deal with the misbehaving and disrupting behaviour and let the teachers get on with teaching.

Maybe he should, you know, not act up in class?

But if he's behaving like the Class Clown, then maybe you need to address that behaviour .
I appreciate that you don't like the label but if his behaviour continues into Secondary school then his aspirations are going to be affected anyway.

@ZaraW

Pretty obvious he needs to change his behaviour. I think the class clown label is a polite way of saying he's a pain in the arse.

I couldn't agree more. My Ds has always been the Class clown and indeed a PITA. I don't at all blame the Teachers for giving him that label, it is down to him and his attitude/behaviour.

lol. Surely this can't be real?

Pretty sure OP won't come back

I appreciate all your opinions so far. But honestly, he's not a bad kid. He actually suffers badly from social anxiety and has nervous tics. I presume he plays up to get laughs and receive positive feedback from his peers. I'm not saying he's perfect, I know he should not be misbehaving and I frequently have words with him about it. The point I am making is that the teacher should not be calling him that name.

@MiddletonMama

I appreciate all your opinions so far. But honestly, he's not a bad kid. He actually suffers badly from social anxiety and has nervous tics. I presume he plays up to get laughs and receive positive feedback from his peers. I'm not saying he's perfect, I know he should not be misbehaving and I frequently have words with him about it. The point I am making is that the teacher should not be calling him that name.

Why should they not be calling him that name?

Maybe she should just tell him to stop being a show off then?

He needs to take responsibility for his own actions. Teachers comments is basically a polite way of saying he is a pain in the arse who is distracting everyone else.

Well, you've been told about his poor behaviour. Now sort it and the other students won't have their education disrupted and the teacher wont need to complain.
Was it you she said it to? If so, how did you respond?
Class clowns are a Pita and never as hilarious as they think they are. For a while the other kids might play along, but trust me, once they realise that someone is disrupting their education they tend to move themselves away.

I just don't think it's very nice. I thought we were trying to teach kids to stop calling each other names so how can they learn that if the teacher is doing it? Surely she has other ways of dealing with misbehaviour.

OP, just parent properly.

Stop making excuses for bad behaviour.

Your child is naughty and it's better it's nipped in the bud now before it actually does impact his future.

@MiddletonMama

I appreciate all your opinions so far. But honestly, he's not a bad kid. He actually suffers badly from social anxiety and has nervous tics. I presume he plays up to get laughs and receive positive feedback from his peers. I'm not saying he's perfect, I know he should not be misbehaving and I frequently have words with him about it. The point I am making is that the teacher should not be calling him that name.

YOUR child is disruptive it's up to you to change it. Pupils like him disrupt the class for pupils who are wanting to learn.

Mine was the class clown. Loveable rogue was also used. My reaction was to tell him to pull himself together and behave in class, not to criticise and push back against the teachers who were doing their level best to try and educate him.

And believe me, in primary it might actually be being said in a "what a little scamp eh?"

It won't in secondary.

@MiddletonMama

I just don't think it's very nice. I thought we were trying to teach kids to stop calling each other names so how can they learn that if the teacher is doing it? Surely she has other ways of dealing with misbehaviour.

What are you doing to deal with his behaviour?

If he is so offended by being called the class clown then he needs to stop living up to the title