The Power a Substitute Holds

The Power a Substitute Holds

Nathan Tapscott, Writer

If any of you people listen to the Foscottweman report, especially our latest one, we talked for a long time about a certain subject. It was mostly about a substitute and how immature she was when doing her job, which only required her to keep us behaved, and to give us the work the teacher assigned for that day. Yet, substitutes like her think they have the same power as a teacher, when she clearly does not. Substitutes don’t have the same power as teachers, as they don’t make the notes, homework, study guides, or anything else of importance for the class. So, with all of this said, how far should they be able to go with their power?

Power is a word everyone knows, yet it can be used in many different ways. The certain type of power though that teachers are given is to make rules, give homework, notes, and setting punishments like a detention or a warning. Examples being like calling out a student doing something that shouldn’t be called out, or being sassy with no given reason. One incident can be explained by senior student Derik Youngworth during study hall, “I was listening to music, and while I listen to music I lightly tap my feet to it. I then got a knock on my desk to take my earbuds out and she started mouthing me off for the light tapping.” It was completely uncalled for and Derik didn’t have much control over it, he was powerless and annoyed. The sub completely used her power by calling out Derik, making him confused. She could have went her day without muttering about any annoyance she got from someone, yet she felt obligated to. I even went far enough to ask if the foot tapping annoyed anyone else, in which everyone didn’t even realize his foot was tapping.

The reason she felt obligated to this stuff was because of power. She knew she wouldn’t get backlash for asking dumb questions with no right answers, since it is common sense to not talk back to a teacher. She knew with being a teacher for that class, nobody could tell her face to face or she would, “write a bad report to the teacher about you.” Another incident that can be told from numerous students was when she would tell the students upfront about how she will be writing a note for the teacher when she comes back. “I felt untrusted, like she was gonna tell the teacher things that didn’t happen.” Says Parker Traman, who was one of the people she warned about a note to a teacher. All the actions pulled by her was a lack of responsibility and a immense amount of immaturity. So with all of this being said, and with the examples/sources being provided, this all shows us to be careful with your actions. Always think twice before you do anything, and as Uncle Ben once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.”