The ability to steal creates a thief
Posted by Francis Bacon
Something pulled me to talk about theft. I remembered the events of about thirty years ago. And only now I seriously thought about whether I was right at the moment when this trouble happened.
I worked in high school as a teacher of the Russian language and literature in Ukraine. There were not enough teachers, so I had to work on both the first and second shifts. Sometimes there was not enough time between classes to run home for lunch, so I had to go to the school cafeteria. By the way, they fed well there, the cooks tried to cook tasty and wholesome food, everyone really liked pancakes and donuts with jam, and the first courses were good.
I’ll take two or three rubles with me and quickly run to eat at school. I left the bag in my back room so as not to carry it with me.
We, the teachers, were given the additional burden of being a class teacher. This meant that we were responsible for the behavior, performance and attendance of students of the same class. And it’s also the responsibility that it’s necessary to transfer the grades received from classroom journals to children's diaries, since parents had to know the details of the training and respond in time. Naturally, this took a lot of time, and the teacher had to prepare for lessons in the second shift. Heavy! We need to find a way out of the situation!
And I have found such a way out! My student named Lena offered to help me with the design of diaries; she was in no hurry to go home. There has a mother, who worked at a very responsible job in the Regional Committee of Public Education. There was no father in the family, and no other children. I was very happy with the offer, I gladly gave the hated that part of the work. At the end of the week, the diaries were filled in time, I could only sign them!
Leaving for the dining room, I offered Elena to come with me, and when she refused, I asked what I should buy and bring. The girl always refused and said that she was waiting for dinner at home, her mother cook for her. What a good daughter mother has, how nice it is to have such children! And I ran with a clear conscience for lunch.
I never knew the exact amount of money in my wallet. In the morning I just checked that there was enough for lunch in the dining room and after work go to the grocery store; bribe something for the family dinner. But after a few days of helping my student, I noticed that every time a few rubles were missing in my wallet. I shared my unpleasant conjecture with my colleague, a teacher of the Ukrainian language Svetlana Grigoryevna. And she offered to do an experiment: to calculate how much money I have and write down the numbers of notes on a separate sheet, taking it with me. We did so. Returning from the dining room, I picked up a purse to put change there. I discovered the loss of several rubles. Together with a colleague, we began to ask Lena if she had taken money from me. The girl with tears in her eyes replied that she was not a thief, did not take anything.
But in her pocket an apron she had several rubles. We showed her a list of my money and the number of notes that matched the contents of the student’s pocket. Then the girl admitted that whenever I went out, she took some money from my wallet because she was hungry and did not want to admit to me. We felt very embarrassed, forced her to return the money and asked not to do so anymore. I spoke with the girl’s mother, a senior lady, and did not use the help of my students anymore, I did my work myself. My colleague and I did not tell anyone about this incident, sparing the girl.
And recently, I read a story on the Internet about how a teacher did with his student, who stole a watch from a classmate. I wondered: was I right in catching a student and accusing her of theft?
One student stole a watch from a classmate. The teacher searched all the children; he pulled out the watch from one of them, but continued to search the rest. The teacher never talked about this incident in the classroom. A few years later a meeting of graduates took place at the school. The guy who stole the watch asked the teacher why he didn’t declared a thief and did not punish him. A wise mentor replied that he searched the students with his eyes closed and did not know who had stolen.
Maybe he was right?!