Classroom Imperialism: Hierarchy and Education

“Now begin in the middle, and later learn the beginning; the end will take care of itself"

- Harlan Ellison

                I noticed a strange behavioral occurrence in my 11th. grade US history class today. It is the one class that I have never had a behavioral or attention problem with, and while it would be an exaggeration to say that I had what would qualify as a "behavioral problem", it was certainly different. The attention wasn't there. The usual thoughtfulness seemed to have been overshadowed by an absentminded apathy. The typical deference to authority had become a meandering glance towards the man at the front of the room saying words.

                Something was different.

                I studied the problem for some time, trying to puzzle out if it was a simple one time quirk in their academic consideration that every class tends to have, or if there was a tangible explanation to the change. The answer soon became obvious. Their King was gone.

                Earlier in the day there had been a fist fight in the halls which had set the school abuzz with the usual tittering that accompanies any reminder of our more instinctual tendencies. Yet this was not some incident completely isolated from my anomaly: one of the participants (and in this case the victor) was a member of my 11th grade classroom, and he was the unequivocal leader of that class.

                Of course, as is tradition in our new age of feminized culture, the belligerents were removed from the premises. That is to say that Mr. Smith we'll call him, would not be attending my class 3rd. period.

                And of course, you know the results.

                The explanation for my classes behavior became obvious. Mr. Smith had, through some primal and organic means, won the Darwinian race for hierarchy. He was/is the natural leader of that classroom. He has a number of qualities that garnered him this position, he is very masculine, he carries himself with an air of confidence (not arrogance), he is physically attractive to the females of the class (I hear them talking in the halls), he is a good person and very honest and open and he implicitly understands and respects hierarchy. This last trait is perhaps the rarest and most valuable, but I digress.

                The other members of my class obviously deferred to him (consciously or otherwise) and he, in turn, deferred to me. By gaining the respect and deference (unintentionally) of the leader of the class, I had through proxy seized complete control of the rest of the class. But now? The sudden disconnect from their naturally selected leader put the class out of sync with me. With Mr. Smith out of the picture there was a palpable degree of confusion. They did not directly oppose me, but now the stringent controls imposed on them by their true leader were gone. As such, they lost focus. They followed me because they followed their King. Their King followed me because I had gained his respect. With his removal, they were left unsure of our relationship.

                I began to apply this phenomena to the rest of my classes and came to a startling conclusion. In each and every one of my classes where I had a successful and functioning relationship with the collective student body, there was one identifiable male leader. What's more, in each of these classes I had asserted my dominance over him in some way and/or managed to gain his respect. Rule through proxy, the true Imperial model.

Specifically:

                Insofar as my other classes were concerned I found myself running into structural issues. In my 2nd. period class, there are only 5 males in a class of 23 and none of them have strong leadership qualities. There existed no centralized authority for me to grab a hold of when I entered the picture as a Student Teacher, as the Imperial Interloper. As such this was doomed to be a struggle from the start.

                My 4th. period class is even stranger. The class is fragmented into incredibly hostile factions (cliques who deeply loathe one another) whose respect for my authority tends to ebb and flow depending on which group is feeling cooperative on a given day. There is no hierarchy imposed by nature and as such they are a class of (excuse the phrase) Savages. Were I not a Student Teacher I imagine it would be possible, with more time, to successfully tame the individual factions, but as it stands the lack of a central male authority figure has robbed this Imperial power of a potential colony.

                In summation:

•  A quick heuristic for those entering into teaching who are having management issues. Find the dominant male in the class, defeat him or gain his respect, and you have successfully taken the short cut to control. But be warned, this sort of control should only be sought in temporary teaching positions: Subbing or Student Teaching, as it is unreliable in the absence of the authoritative locus.

• The better safer way to ensure control in a class is to dominate every aspect of the class from the beginning. Create the organic leadership experience if possible. In female dominated or fractured classes this is the only sure route to the degree of control you need.

• Hierarchy begets better thinking. The students minds no longer have to worry about the primitive scramble for a pecking order that must appear in any social situation. They can focus on the task at hand. Order begets proper education.

• Fuck what the Liberals think. It's wrong and doesn't work.