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Put it in Writing

© Thomas Robertson

After the supervising teacher left me in charge of the class, all of the class members behaved respectfully - that is, all except Roderick. This made it necessary for me to send a child to the ask for help from Mrs. Johnson, another of the teaching assistants.

One of the other teaching assistants took Roderick aside and followed one of the school's disciplinary procedures. She said, "Here's a pencil and here's a sheet of paper. I want you to write Mr. Robertson a letter, telling him you're sorry and you'll never act that way again."

Roderick did exactly as he was told.

But Roderick was clever. Once he was free of Mrs. Johnson's watchful eye, he wrote another letter, misspelling the words "hate" and "honky." That was the letter which I received that afternoon.

Some readers might be thinking, "Don't let him get by with this! Send him back to Mrs. Johnson and this time, make certain that he doesn't try any funny business!"

But the proof of the pudding is in the eating, and I never had a bit of trouble from Roderick for the rest of the year. What do you suppose caused the difference? Was it the session with Mrs. Johnson that he needed, and not the ritual of the apology note? Was it guilty feelings which he might have felt as a result of the switcheroo? Was it the catharsis therapy which he got from writing the letter expressing his true feelings?

If you subscribe to the maxim that "all's well that ends well," you probably don't care.

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