Adventures in Education

Yesterday was a busy day for me. I was asked to sub for one teacher, and then ended up subbing for about four different ones. I was glad to help out, though. The kids were pretty respectful and all went well.
Except...
Yeah, the "except" clause has to be cited.
I'm sure a lot of people remember PE classes from their time in the PS trenches. It's just one of those unfortunate realities with which kids have to deal. The class I subbed for was boy's PE-sixth grade. I was assisting one of the regular coaches, and things went pretty well. The sixth-grade boys acted like...well, sixth grade boys. Unfortunately, the coach I was assisting had moments when he didn't do much better.
I don't see the benefit of calling kids "stupid," nor do I think that kids should be called "idiots." Of course, sometimes they act like they are...but then they are just sixth grade boys, and as Bill Cosby tells us, all children are brain damaged, but they grow out of it.
BTW, if that statement offends you, you just never grew out of it.
For example, there was one kid in this class who was obviously simple, possibly borderline ASD or MR, or something. I am not a diagnostician. The coach told the kids who were not playing flag football to walk around the field for the duration of the period, but this kid just wouldn't do it. The coach looked at him and said "What kind of idiot are you?" and proceeded to yell at him. Didn't work. The kid kept yelling back to him that he was an independent citizen, and so did not have to listen to the coach(!) Whatever this kid's problems, he was able to stymie the coach.
The coach finally asked me to talk to him.
Turns out this kid was a citizen of a place in his head called "Dashtopia." Instead of arguing with him and yelling at him, I simply explained to him that he was standing on American soil, where he was expected to obey the rules, like doing what teachers tell you to do. He had been told to walk, so he had to walk as instructed.
He walked without incident for the rest of the class period.
I'm not tooting my own horn, but it seems to me that if the coach had taken the fifteen seconds to actually listen to this kid and talk on his level, he could have avoided the ulcers and anger that he apparently had developed.
Don't get me wrong. I am not one of those "listen to the children" weirdos. Children are, in general, lying, manipulative, self-centered, deceptive little imps. It's called "human nature" and quite often a good dose of corporal punishment is a good idea. But neither should they be torn down further by being called insulting names.