WHEN GREENER GRASS IS TOXIC

It has often perplexed me to hear students in my current school gripe, complain and run the school down because it is "too small" or "too rural". It's "lame". Some students daily mourn, "I wish I could go to Columbus North or Columbus East" - the significantly larger schools in the city.

These students honestly cannot think of a single good thing to say about their own school. Literally - I have asked them and they cannot come up with a single positive point in our school's favor. 

The sad part is that this attitude completely poisons their day to day experience at school. They simply do not have the eyes to see our small class sizes, our family atmosphere, our more individualized care, or any of the great things happening at our school. 

Those things are simply invisible.

In their imagination, absolutely EVERYTHING is better somewhere else. Our school is apparently unique at failing on every level possible!

Don't expect to find these students exercising any school spirit or taking advantage of what IS being offered. Their experience of school is pure drudgery.

Thankfully, it tends to be a relatively small portion of the student body exercising this unwarranted negativity. But it still infects the school. It interferes with what could and should be happening in the classroom. 

It seems to me the same thing can happen on a national level ... and IS happening these days in the United States.