The Bay of Stupidity

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results."

It's debatable who first said that famous quote. Some people say it was Albert Einstein, but most people seem to think Ben Franklin is the one to credit for uttering such brilliant truth. I'm not sure who it was because I wasn't there, but I disagree. I think that quote is a better definition for "stupidity" than "insanity."

For instance, I've got students in my classes who do the same wrong things over and over again and yet they continue to be amazed when I keep writing them up. It seems pretty simple to me: you break the rules, I write you up. You break the exact same rules that you did yesterday and guess what? I write you up again. It's not a hard concept. I mean, what kind of person continues to do the same thing over and over again, all while expecting a different, less tragic result than before? Franklin would suggest that only an insane person would do this. I think it's probably more appropriate to replace the word "insane" with "stupid."

Stupid is as stupid does.

Some of my students get this idea. They're smart, they're respectful and they don't walk around this place with a sense of entitlement like the teachers here owe them leniency and a free-pass. Needless to say, these pleasant students don't usually find the behavior of those, whom Franklin would deem insane, to be very funny or entertaining.

One day in 6th period, a particular student was acting the way that he always acts (which for the record is like this: "Mr. Xanders, I can't shut-up, I won't shut-up, I don't know how to act or behave, please write me up again, I dare you.") and Michelle Sauer (not pronounced "Sawyer") had clearly had enough of this guy's antics. The feeling was mutual.

She was standing right next to me at my desk because she was helping me pick out a template for this blog. The particular student I'm writing about continued to be extremely disruptive and obnoxious, which is common place for him. I yelled him for what was probably the thousandth time.

Michelle looked up at him in disgust and then looked back at the computer screen. She shook her head and muttered, "That kid is the shining lighthouse in the Bay of Stupidity."

And you know what? She's right. I couldn't help but laugh because it's true. My 6th period really is the Bay of Stupidy and there's boats of all shapes and sizes that are either in an elongated holding pattern or they're just permanently docked there forever. Some kids aren't boats at all, they're like a floating buoy or a beacon to all who pass by and despair. But according to Michelle, this one kid is the Lighthouse that beckons to all the other students to come into the deep, deep waters of the Bay of Stupidity.

My dear students, this is one time that I'll tell all of you to NOT go toward the light. You'll just wind up in a Bay surrounded by Ships of Stupid.