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"Because I Said So!"
Featured Author:
Kate Olson
Kate Olson is a non-traditional new teacher, coming to the classroom after spending time as an accountant and a stay-at-home mother. She currently teaches Business Education in La Crosse, WI and is an online course developer and facilitator for teacher professional development at Professional Learning Board.
Her current educational passion is integrating new technologies into the classroom and enjoys sharing the exciting new tools she finds with her colleagues at school and in her online personal learning network. When she’s not glued to her laptop doing geeky things like wearing a headset and recording audio for her keyboarding blog, she can be found chasing a baby and toddler around the house, running, scrapbooking, and drinking gallons of coffee.
She blogs about her experiences in teaching and technology at Kate Says and blogs with her students at Keying In and Global Bloggers.
More articles from this author:
I know this won’t be popular, but isn’t there some value to “because I said so” as a response to a question? As a parent? As a teacher? As a boss? I know all the stuff out there on giving reasons for everything and respecting roles and setting the tone for respect, but isn’t there a time when authority is the final answer?
When a student whines for the millionth time that he’s BORED and doesn’t WANT to do something, do I sit him down for a one-on-one conversation (while the rest of the class waits) on the benefits of a certain activity (which, by the way, I’ve already given multiple times)?
When an employee balks and balks and balks at doing something assigned to him or her, isn’t there a time when being the boss is what matters?
As I said, I know the underlying reasons for giving good reasons for everything we do, but when we’re on the fly, in real world situations, and have already set the stage for children, students, employees to respect us, can’t we pull rank?
Can’t we EVER use authority as the last word anymore?
Based on the discussions flying around these days, no.
I beg to differ.
