prayer for a struggling student

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mlz

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My heart is aching for one of my students. He has an emotional behavior disorder of which he is highly medicated for. Inside this boy I see a very sweet, precious child with high intelligence but bound by this disorder. It’s as if he “looses control” and makes the wrong choices. And so he did this week at school. We have a very big trip to a wonderful environmental learning center which students talk about and remember even in high school.We fund raise and work toward this all year and the kids are so anxious to go this Monday. But this boy lost the privilege on his way home tonight on the bus due to bad choices. He was sooo close to making it and wanted to go so bad. Pray please that this experience does not make him bitter but that he can grow from this. (I worry that he will just give up and he’s made such gains this year) BUT…I know prayer will help. He lives with his Grandmother who has her hands full with he and his brother who is also a handful. She tries her best to raise them and is a good woman.

Thank you,
mlz
 
Jesus please comfort him and heal his life.
Please send Your angels to guide him in his choices and to help him through the difficulties within and around him, so that he is able to be the person he is created to be, and to achieve all that he is capable of during his life.
 
mlz said:
My heart is aching for one of my students. He has an emotional behavior disorder of which he is highly medicated for. Inside this boy I see a very sweet, precious child with high intelligence but bound by this disorder. It’s as if he “looses control” and makes the wrong choices. And so he did this week at school. We have a very big trip to a wonderful environmental learning center which students talk about and remember even in high school.We fund raise and work toward this all year and the kids are so anxious to go this Monday. But this boy lost the privilege on his way home tonight on the bus due to bad choices. He was sooo close to making it and wanted to go so bad. Pray please that this experience does not make him bitter but that he can grow from this. (I worry that he will just give up and he’s made such gains this year) BUT…I know prayer will help. He lives with his Grandmother who has her hands full with he and his brother who is also a handful. She tries her best to raise them and is a good woman.

Thank you,
mlz
Click to expand...
Praying for his intentions.
 
Saint Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil, may God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do you, O’ Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into Hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls.

Amen.

†

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

†

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

†
 
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother. To thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me. Amen.
 
I’ll pray for the student, that he will find the ability to adjust more successfully and peacefully to the world in which he must live.

I must say, with all due respect, that I disagree very strongly with the punishment given to this student. Your description tells us that the trip effectively is a culmination of a year long process of fundraising, planning and preparation. To punish this boy, a person who has known psychological problems, by making him feel that an entire year’s worth of effort by the student has been a waste of his time is a profoundly bad idea.

I am not suggesting that unacceptable behavior should be tolerated or ignored. I am saying that to make this person lose a once-a-year reward because of something he did one day seems to me severely unreasonable and almost certain to be counterproductive. Such a punishment seems to me to be certain to foster only resentment and a marked decrease in the student’s willingness to work toward anything. Unless he has been expelled from school for the recent misdeed, unless it was THAT serious a violation, then he should not suffer the loss of the only reward for a year’s worth of preparation.

I will pray that this student might find it in his troubled heart to forgive the adults who have made him pay with the loss of one year’s privileges for the misdeeds of a day. To exclude him from this positive event, to isolate him from his classmates that day, to make that year-long anticipated happy day a day of shame, disappointment and humiliation is not something one may reasonably expect such a student to understand and accept. He will see this as excessive and frankly discouraging. I will pray that his discouragement and disappointment pass, and that he does not regard this punishment as the frank excess that it seems to me to be.

Again, to be clear, I am not saying that misbehavior should be ignored. I am saying that if he is permitted to remain in school, then he should be permitted to experience the culmination of an entire school year’s worth of effort. Only a misdeed so grave and so profound that it warrants expulsion should lead to this sort of punishment for such a student. Especially given that the academic year is about to end, one can only expect that thoughts of discouragement and distrust will occupy his thoughts all Summer whenever he reflects back on the school year.

This punishment is likely to diminish his ability to work toward any long-term goal, since he will regard long-term investments as things that authorities may simply destroy due to errors in judgement and defects in self-control that this student is expected to experience sooner or later. I’m not describing how it ought to be for you or me, or for the school administrators. I am describing how I think it will be for the student, since it is his education and development that ought to be the purpose of how he is treated.

I am Catholic.
Peace be with you, and with the student for whom I will pray more.

EDIT: If you think anyone in a position of authority might benefit from what I’ve written here, then please feel free to pass along to such a person or persons what I have written. If this boy still could be included, then I would hope that changes could be made to plans for how he is being treated in this matter. A different plan to correct his behavior is called for. Losing that trip will, at best, do no good, but more likely do harm.

It is late and others are asleep in the house, but I will gently sing Ave Maria for this boy.
I will sing also for his grandmother, and for all who are trusted to care for him.

Peace be with you.
 
I agree with Uncle Joe. There must be other options for punishments. You can’t punish negative behavior with negative responses. Just look at our penal system: that should tell you a lot. You need to be an advocate for this boy. Pray yes, but Actions speak volumes.
 
***Hail Mary,
Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb,
Jesus.
Holy Mary,
Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of our death
Amen.

:crossrc:***
 
Saint Michael, the archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil, may God rebuke him, we humbly pray. And do you, O’ Prince of the Heavenly host, by the power of God thrust into Hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls.

Amen.

†

Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

Amen.

†

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

†
 
uncle_joe said:
I’ll pray for the student, that he will find the ability to adjust more successfully and peacefully to the world in which he must live.

I must say, with all due respect, that I disagree very strongly with the punishment given to this student. Your description tells us that the trip effectively is a culmination of a year long process of fundraising, planning and preparation. To punish this boy, a person who has known psychological problems, by making him feel that an entire year’s worth of effort by the student has been a waste of his time is a profoundly bad idea.

I am not suggesting that unacceptable behavior should be tolerated or ignored. I am saying that to make this person lose a once-a-year reward because of something he did one day seems to me severely unreasonable and almost certain to be counterproductive. Such a punishment seems to me to be certain to foster only resentment and a marked decrease in the student’s willingness to work toward anything. Unless he has been expelled from school for the recent misdeed, unless it was THAT serious a violation, then he should not suffer the loss of the only reward for a year’s worth of preparation.

I will pray that this student might find it in his troubled heart to forgive the adults who have made him pay with the loss of one year’s privileges for the misdeeds of a day. To exclude him from this positive event, to isolate him from his classmates that day, to make that year-long anticipated happy day a day of shame, disappointment and humiliation is not something one may reasonably expect such a student to understand and accept. He will see this as excessive and frankly discouraging. I will pray that his discouragement and disappointment pass, and that he does not regard this punishment as the frank excess that it seems to me to be.

Again, to be clear, I am not saying that misbehavior should be ignored. I am saying that if he is permitted to remain in school, then he should be permitted to experience the culmination of an entire school year’s worth of effort. Only a misdeed so grave and so profound that it warrants expulsion should lead to this sort of punishment for such a student. Especially given that the academic year is about to end, one can only expect that thoughts of discouragement and distrust will occupy his thoughts all Summer whenever he reflects back on the school year.

This punishment is likely to diminish his ability to work toward any long-term goal, since he will regard long-term investments as things that authorities may simply destroy due to errors in judgement and defects in self-control that this student is expected to experience sooner or later. I’m not describing how it ought to be for you or me, or for the school administrators. I am describing how I think it will be for the student, since it is his education and development that ought to be the purpose of how he is treated.

I am Catholic.
Peace be with you, and with the student for whom I will pray more.

EDIT: If you think anyone in a position of authority might benefit from what I’ve written here, then please feel free to pass along to such a person or persons what I have written. If this boy still could be included, then I would hope that changes could be made to plans for how he is being treated in this matter. A different plan to correct his behavior is called for. Losing that trip will, at best, do no good, but more likely do harm.

It is late and others are asleep in the house, but I will gently sing Ave Maria for this boy.
I will sing also for his grandmother, and for all who are trusted to care for him.

Peace be with you./QUOTE

I never explained the whole story of this student as it would take pages. Suffice it to say this was not his first of problem. He has committed several serious offences during the year where he has served out of school suspensions - his last being bringing a knife to school and showed to several other students( hunting knife I’m told) a week ago and was told he could go on the trip if he made good choices up to going on the trip. At he end of his last class on Friday he stole from the music teacher. He made this " deal" with our principal and messed up at the latest point. He is very impulsive but very bright and I’ve seen him succeed and know the potential God has for him that it breaks my heart seeing this happen, even though I understand the principals decision. I feel badly and am praying he won’t be bitter, but better because of this and asking for prayer support for him to gret through this and be all God wants him to be for God’s glory… Just as you would pray for your own wayward child. He needs our prayers as does his Grandma raising him. Hope that sheds more light on the situation . Thank you for your prayers!
mlz
Click to expand...
 
Dear Lord, console this young boy and let him feel Your love. Help him to see his wrongdoing and be repentant of it. Please, Lord, help him to find joy.
 
DEAR “MLZ”:

Thanks for explaining more of the details. I’m aware that I still do not know all the details, and perhaps none of us really does since we do not see the inside of the boy’s mind and soul - and would not understand the information perfectly, as does God, even if all the information were to be made available for us to behold.

I’ll raise some points to consider, perhaps points that already are being considered. One is that no student like this boy, and probably no student at all, should be in a position that allows stealing from a teacher. By that I mean that no teacher should leave money exposed, nor unsupervised, such that it might be stolen. I don’t know how the money was stolen, but if it was from a desk or a briefcase or some other place not on the teacher’s person, then I suspect that money was very poorly managed by the teacher. Perhaps there is an explanation for how this is not the case.

Another more general point is that I still think an annual event ought best to be tied to annual performance. It sounds like that had been the case, but then things got rather renegotiated. Maybe that renegotiation was an act of mercy, but maybe that sort of mercy is more confusing to the boy than it is corrective. One thing that seems clear to me is that he needs to be given very reliable rules for duties, rewards and punishments. I think also that he might benefit a great deal from lots of very short-term duties and related rewards. I suspect he has very little ability to take actions in October for a reward that might occur in May. I hope that possibility is one of the things his teaches, caregivers and any treatment planners take into consideration.

I still will pray more for this young man, and for his grandmother. I’ll pray also for yourself and for all others who try to help anyone with anything. It is a good sign that you have asked for prayers for this boy, a good sign that he has someone in some capacity in his life who cares a great deal for him. That’s good, and that’s nice.

I am Catholic.
Peace be with you.
 
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