Anger Issues

I had a close friend that used to get so angry and frustrated with people that he could barely speak.  He felt every moment of idiocy and thoughtless disrespect like a personal wound.  We used to talk about it, and I would shrug and say that they were imperfect people with good intentions who mess up a lot.  But now that I think about I wonder which one of actually had more respect for the people around us.  My friend, who thought that they were jerks that were being hypocritical, or me, benevolently considered them idiots from whom I shouldn't expect much.  He at least believed in them enough to be angry with them for failing to live their potentials.  I just gave up on them as faulty, flawed, and hopeless.

Now I find myself often adopting a similar attitutde toward my students sometimes.  I don't ever really get angry at them.  Sometimes that's because I'm a fairly laid back person who doesn't take discipline problems personally, but often its because I treat them like three year olds.  I don't expect them to be able to control themselves.  So instead of teaching behavior lessons I tend to just stop behavior.  Instead of teaching them to police their own behavior, I'm doing it for them.  Instead of teaching them not to bring distracting items to class, I'm just taking them away.  

So I guess I need to work on getting angrier and expecting better of my students.