What If I Threatened To Pull The Fire Alarm In 7th Grade?

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In 7th grade, a para followed me to every class. I hated that so much. At least if she sat in the back, she could be mistaken for a teacher aide because if she wasn't focusing on me, she'd grade other students' homework.

But in Science class, she forced me to sit next to her, even though that would give away the fact that I had anything to do with her, to all the other students, and I wanted to hide that from every last student in the school.

I knew that as soon as any student figured out what and who she was really there for, I'd be ostracized and treated like a subhuman; a special-ed kid who needed to have some lady follow him around all the time. There was nothing more that I wanted that year than to be accepted by everybody. I wanted to be friends with everyone and be the most popular kid in school. Having (every student know that I had) a para would most certainly prevent that, so I was FURIOUS.

I couldn't beg hard enough to my parents to please remove the para from the school. So being in detention / suspension was more appealing because at least if I was suspended, I'd be taken away from all the other students. At least no student would see me with the para if I was sent to a room where suspended kids go.

So if I was forced back into my 12 year old body that year again; if I woke up back in 7th grade all over again, through some form of time travel in my sleep, I'd see about pulling the fire alarm.

First, I'd ask politely to let me sit by myself or with a friend in science. Mrs. Potter would refuse, so then I'd walk away, and to a point in the hallway that had a fire alarm. I'd touch the fire alarm, at the ready to pull it, then threaten Mrs. Potter: "If you don't leave me alone and let me be like the rest of the kids in science by letting me sit by myself or with a friend, then I swear I'll pull this fire alarm. You KNOW you don't want THAT."

What do you think she'd say / do right then?

And if I were to successfully pull the fire alarm, I'd be guaranteed no more Mrs. Potter because I'd be expelled, right?

Looking back at the horrific year 7th grade was, I'd think even expulsion would've been better than being forced to have a special-ed label stuck to me due to having a para follow me all the time. There was nothing more I wanted than to be a normal kid with many friends and a girlfriend.

you're not supposed to start multiple threads on the same topic. You started two other threads with this same title. Violates the rules.

Just sayin.

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About the topic. I cant say what you should have done back then when you were 12, but oddly enough I do kinda relate.

I had a similar thing in early highschool. I was enrolled in a program to help me academically, but it was an extra thing that I went to at a location separate from my school. So the other kids never saw me at this place. However this place made me bring a questionnaire to school which I had to present to each teacher at the end of class to rate how I did in that class. And other kids would see me do THAT. So it had to be explained. And being the dumb aspie kid I was I was compulsively honest and just mumbled to kids that I was in this academic help program. Which added ammo to the kids who would laugh at me behind my back etc.

Not often but occasionally I think about it even now decades later. Now I wished I had not been so passive. I should have gone to the grown up shrinks who ran the program at this place and given them a stern ultimatum: either stop forcing me to take this questionnaire around, OR lets keep on doing it, but...give me a good cover story to explain to my peers what this thing I am doing is! The story doesn't have to be true. Just something that is plausible, and not embarrassing.

This has gotten me further thinking. Now I am old enough to see it from the parents pov. And...its kinda sad how "you cant win for loosin". If you're a parent with a troubled kid and you try to help the kid and, in both of our cases, it just made things worse. Grown ups just seem to forget that there is such a thing as peer pressure in schools.

Threatening to pull the fire alarm could have made it worse. Since you were already involved special services, people might have seen that threat as a "challenging behavior" and treated you even less like a regular student.

The real problem was not the para following you around; the problem was the culture in schools and in society in general.

I suspect it would not have ended well.

37 years ago I saw a person essentially throw their degree away after getting drunk at departmental social and pulling the fire alarm as a prank.