Classrooms should always be a safe and equal environment for students, but if I’m being brutally honest, some classrooms at Elkhart Memorial aren’t like this.

Favoritism exists when teachers display that they like one student more than the others. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love seeing students and teachers have close relationships, but sometimes these types of relationships can have other students feeling left out in the classroom.

For example, when I was entering freshman year, I asked some students about advice for high school, and many of them either said something along the lines of making sure that I become the “teachers pet” so that they would give me a good grade, or they told me to act a certain way around teachers so that they like me. 

Yes, you could say that this shouldn’t affect the classroom at all, but in reality, it does. Those students who do not become the “teachers pet” find themselves in an environment where they feel neglected, ignored, less important and as a result they may also feel the need to act a certain way so that said teacher likes them or so that they can “fit in.” 

Close student and teacher relationships are not a problem, but they can become a problem when said student gets more privileges than others. For example, letting them break the rules or letting do whatever they want simply because they are “close” to them.

Teachers need to be more mindful of this favoritism so that all students can feel welcomed, not just by their peers, but by their teachers as well.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the GENESIS staff. Email Daniela Morales at [email protected]