I'm struggling over this one. Here's the thing, compassion is not really observable. Yet, we judge people according to what we can see, here, smell etc., but mostly see. The faculty at the elementary school where I teach is being trained, one Monday a month, for nine months, in a behavior management program that done correctly, asks teachers to demonstrate compassion to the students. How can you possible have a problem with that?

The thing is, it asks teachers to develop an empathetic statement to say every time they have to lay a punishment on a kid.
For instance, “Darn, it looks like you have decided to miss recess.”

Or, “It must make you feel bad that you have to stay after school.”

Is that compassion?

Actually, I need to revise that...IT IS NOT COMPASSION!!!

Compassion...co-passion...implies a relationship of equals where both parties have a similar passion. It is RARLEY demonstrated in schools, because most teachers don't see their students as anywhere near equal to them, the TEACHER.

Can I have compassion, real compassion, that is NOT OBSERVABLE by those walking pass my classroom?

My favorite student is a girl who moved into our school when her mother married a guy from town. She misses her friends, dad, house and life that a divorce and re-marriage took from her.

Today she had a small, glass, sheep on her desk. I guy, a boy walked passed her desk and took the sheep and said, “Hey what's this?” She grabbed for it as if it was gold. In the brief struggle it fell to the floor. It appeared unbroken, but the incident demanded the attention of the class.

I stepped in and she began to cry. The weight behind that cry came years of fear, unhappiness and worry.
Later, in the hall, I asked where the lamb came from.

She responded with the saddest thing I have ever heard a student say to me. I know, it sounds like I'm overstating it, but you will just have to trust me.

She said, “It came from my old house.”

Then, she repeated it, over and over....

There are “compassionate” teachers in my school who would have taken the sheep from her and told her that she could get it after school. But they would have said, “It's sad for you that I'm taking this sheep from you, darn it, you can get it after school, but I don't ever want to see it again.”