Hey, I’m no fan of school, honest. Despite that, even I would often feel like Biden when he asked a certain Presidential candidate “will you shut up, man?” after the class “clown” made the 37th unfunny joke in a row.
A Redditor and her daughter were stuck in a similar situation when the daughter said something similar (albeit a bit more wordy) to a fellow classmate who just couldn’t stop disrupting class with dancing and singing. The worst part of the whole thing was that the girl who was told off demanded an apology and the school agreed with her!
More info: Reddit
A mom was shocked to hear that her daughter had to apologize to an incredibly disruptive classmate for snapping at her
Image credits: olia danilevich (not the actual photo)
The poster's daughter had had enough of her classmate singing and dancing in class so she finally said something, only it wasn't very nicely worded
Image credits: Max Fischer (not the actual photo)
The angry teen was sent to the principal and her mom was called to the school to pick her up for causing trouble
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)
When the principal and the dancing girl's mom demanded an apology, the poster basically told them to get bent and doubled down on the girl being annoying
Image credits: u/Diligent_Intern_8729
Eventually, the other parents caught wind of the entire story and dogged the administration that the poster's daughter was in the right after all
Our story begins in a classroom. We’ve all been there right? Okay, around 71.1% of people have had at least basic education, according to 1990 statistics. Close enough.
What I want to say with that is that we’ve all dealt with a “class clown” in our own time. Heck, maybe you even were one! I was one too for a stint and looking back on it, I was annoying as all hell, but at least I got it out of me in the primary grades.
Sometimes the class clowns are the reason why going to school is worth it. I know that doesn’t bode well for the education system, but sometimes the only thing that makes a class better is someone making really stupid but pretty snappy jokes (at least to kids).
Other times, especially in later grades or, god forbid, university or college, it’s downright disgraceful. By that time most people have already understood that education is worthwhile, even if you’re only grinding to get good test scores so you have better options for your higher education.
So when you’ve got your head down and just want to get in and out of school without any further complications, a disruptive presence may begin to slowly become grating.
And imagine yourself in the poster’s daughter’s shoes - putting up with an annoying classmate for 5 months. 5 months of singing and dancing during class, perhaps even daily. No wonder she snapped - it had to happen eventually.
Not exactly sure how much you have to lack self-awareness to do a whole song-and-dance routine while in class.
On the flipside, the poster’s daughter was likely quite abrasive in telling her off as 14-year-olds aren’t known for their tactful presentation, especially if they’ve been putting up with things and bottling their feelings up for 5 months.
Despite all of that, the real villains in this story are the disruptive girl’s mom and the school administration. It reeks of the classic scenario when someone finally stands up to their bullies, either verbally or physically, and they get punished for it. It’s a school admin classic for them to wash their hands of the whole thing by blaming both parties or simply victim blaming. Especially when there’s video evidence of the whole thing.
Image credits: Edmond Dantes (not the actual photo)
It’s quite hard to suggest what should be done when school administrators don’t listen to complaints about disruptive behavior, bullying, and the like because the various chains of command and systems vary from country to country and state to state.
STOMP Out Bullying has good suggestions for what to do in, well, cases of bullying, but which are also applicable to situations similar to the one we have today.
Just like in the office, a paper trail works perfectly. If you're experiencing difficulties, documenting the incidents with pictures, videos, written reports or emails may save you a lot of hassle in the future, when evidence has to be presented to admins or even higher institutions.
Next up, you may want to take the first step and contact the principal to have a face-to-face chat with them, outlining what has been going on and telling your concerns to them. It’s best to do it in a non-aggressive way, but rather as if you were sharing something with a friend.
Finally, if your child starts receiving threats or the situation is stagnating and causing harm to your kid’s education, never be afraid of taking it higher, perhaps the school board or even the police and media, if necessary.
As we’re nearing the end here, the real twist of the story is the surprise support from the other parents, who caught wind that the poster’s daughter had to go to the principal and caused a storm over that fact, pointing out how many times they’ve brought Mia’s behavior to their attention. As it was likely hard for the school to worm their way out of this one, they had to release a message that they’d be “taking action” when there’s a disruptive pupil, whatever that means.
Over 23 days and nights, the poster’s story collected over 12K upvotes on the Reddit AITA community, where the upwards of 3000 comments agreed that she and her daughter weren’t jerks.
Do you have your own stories of suffering or dealing with class clowns? Please share them with the Panda community down below!
The community judged the mom-daughter pair as not jerks, but some did say that everyone sucks and both the teen and her mom were too harsh to others
