NMSC

 Biologically, humans are mammals. We have hair rather than feathers or scales. We have a constant body temperature. We bear live young rather than laying eggs. Mothers nurse their young with milk. All of the things that identify mammals apply to us.

Genetically, humans are primates. We are most closely related to apes and monkeys. That's not to say that we came from monkeys - that assertion indicates an insufficient understanding of natural selection, and even basic biology. It's that when we look at the genetics of monkeys and apes, they are remarkably similar to our own.

There is one big difference, though. Human beings have a capacity that has not been identified, at least to a consistent extent, in any other living creatures on Earth.

One name for this capacity is "Self-awareness". 

Having self awareness is pretty much exactly what it sounds like - and more. It is a realization of our own existence. It is the knowledge that each of us is a person, with thoughts, feelings, experiences, and potential of our own. Every person you see has their own life, their own story, and it's just as rich and complex as your own. 

But self-awareness is more than that. It is also a realization that your life is not just a collection of events that happen to you. It's not a conveyor belt of experiences that are yours alone and nobody else's business. Self-awareness is the realization that everyone else has their own events and experiences, and that they are as valid to them as your own are to you. 

Self-awareness, therefore, is the realization that life is not just a process. Life is a system that involves not just you, but everyone around you. It marks the beginning of seeing beyond yourself and understanding that you have a place in the greater pattern. It is the moment you make a deliberate choice to move beyond stimulus/response to the larger world of questioning, learning, and understanding.

With this understanding comes accountability. Actions and choices have consequences. Simple creatures are accountable only to themselves, and only for their own survival. But creatures who are self-aware understand that they are accountable to their communities as well - to their families, friend groups, classes, schools, and neighborhoods. They understand that their own actions help to create the world they live in. Life isn't something that just happens to you, something you experience without having any control over it. Life is what you choose to build, for yourself and for your communities.

Most humans begin to experience self-awareness in early adolescence, or even before. They are no longer egotistical (that is, driven only by their own ego). They have begun to understand that a living, thriving community is worth working together for.

But some children take longer to come to this realization. Not yet understanding the greater responsibilities - and greater rewards - of being part of a larger community, they continue to act only to satisfy their own urges, to gratify their own ego. They engage in behaviors that can be disruptive to the larger community, and which are ultimately self-destructive.

There are many different names and classifications for such behaviors. Let me tell you mine:

Middle School Crap.

And I don't tolerate Middle School Crap in my classroom.

You aren't young children any more. You are closer to adulthood than you realize (Heaven help us all). So part of your experience in my class will be learning how to behave more like adults, how to recognize your place in our community, and how to make the community better. When you ignore your budding self-awareness - that is, when you choose to behave like a child instead of as part of a community - you will be corrected. You probably won't like it. You're not supposed to like it. You're supposed to learn from it. That's the whole point. 

I will provide you with as many learning opportunities as you require. 

Greater demonstrations of Middle School Crap will, of necessity, require greater correction. As an old bishop of my acquaintance was fond of saying, "The Band-Aid has to be bigger than the wound." 

Having said all of that, there is one more important thing for you to consider: I will not slow down the pace of the class while you learn to practice self-awareness. I won't penalize the students who are already committed to building a learning community in this classroom while you engage in close combat with your own ego. If you are unable to realize your own self-awareness - i.e., if you don't figure out how to grow up - you'll get left behind.

Catching up on what you miss will be your own responsibility. There are helpful resources like Flex Time available. But it will be up to you to figure out what you need to do, and then to actually do it.

I refuse to surrender the learning of the other 37 students in my classroom to placate the part of you that never left 8th grade.

That is the expectation for this class, clear and direct and unambiguous. 

Follow it, and you will have a great year. You will emerge as a better student, a better scientist, and a better human being.

Fight it, and ultimately you'll discover - too late! - that you've only been fighting yourself.

Choose wisely - every day.

tl;dr version: No Middle School Crap in this classroom.