Teachers Don't Need to 'Earn' Student Respect — They Need to Not Lose It
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder flips the 'earn respect' narrative, arguing that teachers start with professional authority that they maintain through consistency and fairness.
Key Takeaways
- Respect comes with the role - Teachers have professional authority by virtue of their position; they don't need to earn it from scratch
- The goal is not losing it - Inconsistency, unfairness, and broken promises erode the respect teachers start with
- The 'earn respect' narrative undermines authority - Telling teachers they must earn students' respect suggests they start with none
Transcript
Do teachers need to earn the respect of their students?
I got a comment to that effect earlier today, and I think the answer is no.
Teachers do not need to earn the respect of their students.
They need to not lose the respect of their students by, you know, doing a good job and being respectful to their students and things like that.
But I don't think teachers need to earn the respect of their students in the first place.
That respect needs to be given by default.
Students owe their teachers respect because their teachers are the adults who are in charge, right?
This is not some sort of voluntary situation where they're an influencer, right?
Like a teacher is not an influencer who has to earn the following that students give them.
That's not what that is, right?
This is a profession.
where students are assigned to a teacher and they owe their teacher respect as part of that teacher's job right as part of the position and it can't work any other way right like you can't assume that all teachers are not worthy of respect until they earn it because how are they going to have the chance to earn it If kids are constantly being disrespectful and showing that they do not respect their teacher.
So I think we have this backwards.
And like, I really think people are in for a rude awakening when they get out into the real world.
If they think that everybody they ever interact with has to earn their respect.
I mean, that's just not how it works.
Let me know what you think.