Mrs. Twidglene McSmidgen is of the old school
Where control in the classroom is gained by brute force.
She could not have grown old watching Sesame Street.
She is like Foghorn Leghorn and doomed to defeat.
She can not swat the tots and then stutter, of course.
She would love to use some kind of ‘discipline tool.’

But the ‘tools’ today are much like bargaining chips.
And her chips are down usually by display.
She can’t muster the will to negotiate with
Such inferior beings. To her, it’s a myth
That the little ones might become people someday.
It seems teachers and tyrants are joined at the hips.

Many teachers are parents, so they have some clue
As to what makes most little ones act out in ways
That are deemed not appropriate and impolite.
And they do have some sense of what’s wrong and what’s right.
They are people with voices. Their minds aren’t a maze
Nor a puzzle with which we know not what to do.