Student Gifts

The younger the students, the more likely they are to bring you Christmas gifts. I find that the peak years for students to give gifts to their teachers are the primary years. Some of the gifts are simple drawings, others are material goods, and some are used possessions that the parents will eventually discover to be missing from their homes. When should a teacher refuse a gift?

If a student gives a gift that is inappropriate- should he or she be penalized. One student brought his teacher a shirt with a very disturbing logo on it. What should the teacher have done? This teacher sent the student, and his shirt, down to the principal- telling him the principal would probably like it better. There were no thank you notes from the teacher either. Hopefully you know your students well enough to figure out if one is trying to be a jokester or just being ignorant with a gift.

Another male student brought his chocolate-loving teacher a big piece of chocolate cake. He shared it with his class. The next day, several students claimed of severe stomach illness and a few missed school. Was it the student who purposely poisoned the cake or had it merely gone bad due to a lack of refrigeration? The teacher never said anything to the student, thinking that the student just hadn't realized that whip cream can't stay in a locker for any length of time.

There are also rich students who bring the teacher very expensive jewelry. A teacher really has to be careful with such gifts. If she accepts them, the parents might expect her to treat their child better. In their subtle ways, the parents are bribing the teacher through the gift of their child. Older students may even try to bribe teachers during major exams with gifts. Luckily Christmas is too soon for this to occur.

In the staff room teachers have been talking a lot about gifts from students lately. Being a supply teacher, I have visited a number of schools and been a part of many such conversations. The older teachers are noticing that students are not bringing in as many gifts as they did in the past. This may be due to all the problems with the education system in Ontario. It may be due to the challenging new curriculum. I don't think it has anything to do with the teachers themselves.

Teachers must simply use discretion with their students at Christmas. It would be highly disrespectful to refuse a small gift that is from the heart but lines and limits must be drawn as

Go To Page: 1 2