Dealing with Passive-Aggressive Students

A pretty consistent frustration to teachers is the passive-aggressive student.  Teachers usually do not know why these students frustrate them so much, but once they delve deeper into the personalities of these students, they can begin to recognize their manipulative behaviors and then begin to help them change the behavior.  After all, passive-aggressive students “deal with their anger and frustrations by eliciting these feelings in others, thereby appearing to be the victim of the other’s irrational behavior,” (The Institute on Community Integration).  In the article published by the The Institute on Community Integration, typical characteristics of the passive-aggressive student are:

• Passive listening; hearing only what they want
• Slow-motion; moving very slowly when asked to go somewhere or complete a task
• Purposeful forgetting
• “accidental” destruction
• Frequently out of seat
• Frequent behavior which is either inappropriate or exhibited at the wrong time
• Cruel cut-downs
• Constant complaining
• Incomplete work if not constantly nagged

One of the first questions that these students might bring up in a teacher would be, Why does the student seek attention in this manner?  “…the student has likely learned, over the course of his or her life, that he or she can quickly gain attention through this behavior.  He or she was probably not reinforced for appropriate behavior and likely lacks the skills necessary to elicit positive attention,” (The Institute on Community Integration).  Another typical reason students act in this way is because of their lack of self-esteem.  Because others underestimate their potential, the student has learned that they are not capable of much, even though this is hardly ever the case. 

Teachers of passive-aggressive students tend to wonder what the most proactive interventions are when it comes to changing the students’ behavior.  “Positive reinforcement is very important in improving the student’s self-esteem and changing his or her self-perception,” (The Institute on Community Integration).  By giving the students positive feelings about themselves, they stop feeling the need to utilize passive-aggressive behavior.  Another effective intervention method is modeling. “Modeling helps the student learn new behavior,” (The Institute on Community Integration).  By showing our students how we expect them to act, they might begin to pick up on the subtlety of our modeling. 

These methods might not always work on each individual student, and knowing your students is the best way to figure out an intervention method best for them.  Remember that every student is different.

Smith, K. Passive Aggressive Behavior: Preventing and Dealing with Challenging Behavior. College of Education, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.