If people are innately good - and I believe they are - then bad behavior must signify underlying problems. Just as toddler's tantrum expresses hunger, exhaustion, or some other unpleasant internal state, a teen's inappropriate behavior indicates a problem that should be addressed. Disrespectful conversation, failure to engage in school, and working below capacity often point toward complicated situations with which the teen cannot deal. Since bad behavior is a symptom of an unpleasant internal state, the solution must address the underlying cause.

I think teens often suffer from severe confusion because they think so concretely and combine their "truths" in creative and often devastating manners.  A teen who has done something wrong may well decide that the act defines them; they are"bad" or "stupid." And since they don't understand how to change the definition, "at risk" teens might decide to be the "best bad" they can possibly be or that education is pointless for "people like me."

I know that success breeds success. Sadly, success in being "bad" may well solidify an inappropriate self-definition, especially when the young person seeks the company of people with like self-definitions or value systems. Happily, success in good things motivates children (and adults) to seek more goodness.

I would suggest that teachers are appropriately positioned to support and nurture a young adult's developing cognitive abilities - not simply in the academic arena, but in more generalized terms that validate the diversity of their backgrounds, preferences, and potentials. If a young person will share his or her logic with us, we might offer alternative interpretations and logical pathways through which self-definitions change. Our most powerful tool for promoting the self-esteem that creates success is to define students as good, smart, and successful. We then create legitimate opportunities for success. And when correction becomes necessary, we blend it with heavy doses of encouragement ("That was great! Now try it this way. I know you can.").

Through the deep, authentic relationships we form with our students, teachers assess the student's educational needs and create lessons that will provide students with carefully scaffolded opportunities to develop academic skills and knowledge. We mentor and encourage students to the best of our abilities, and when they succeed, we applaud the student's accomplishment and feel honored to have been a part of their learning process.

The arena in which we forge appropriate teacher-student relationships is the school, which provides guidance concerning what to teach and the tools necessary to do so. The school also acts as intermediary among student, teacher, parents, and community, interpreting one to another and ensuring that the needs of all are met. Together, all work toward one goal: to provide young people with the information and insights necessary to negotiate what one researcher calls "the impossible task of adulthood."