The Tragedy of The Class Clown

Once upon a time, I earned a living as a classroom teacher. I loved it, and I am still involved in education (although in a very different way). I looked forward to each September. I made new registers, tinkered with seating plans, and awaited the 'newness' of my September classes. It's refreshing to have an annual reset, and I don't believe there are any jobs outside of education that get the same.

Secondary school seating plans are an exercise in politics

By July, a lot of the students would know which teachers they were getting. Some were pleased, some unsure, some very disappointed. And teachers felt the same: we knew which students - more or less - would be sat in our classrooms come September. As I finessed my seating plans in late August, I would flick through reports, test scores, and other information to try and put every student in the best place for them. If I had never taught a particular young person, I relied on teachers who had taught students in previous years for advice on their character and personality.

Rule 1 of making a seating plan: keep friends and cliques apart. But students also naturally take on roles in the class - Helper, Rebel, Leader, Slacker, Perfectionist, Clown, and so on. I tried to split these evenly among the tables. Better diversity meant better outcomes. Slackers couldn't get away with doing nothing with a Perfectionist nearby. A Helper often supported a Rebel to access work and so feel less frustrated. A good Leader is the perfect foil to a Clown, helping them feel seen but without letting focus slip or let the Clown take over.

Here Come the Clowns!

Plans must be flexible. Sometimes, after a few lessons, I discovered I had accidentally paired together 'BFFs*', completely breaking Rule 1. Other times, I misjudged. While I thought I had filled a table with a Helper and a Leader, it turned out after the first assessment that they were both Perfectionists, adding an unhealthy concentration of anxiety to a single table. But the most disruptive mistake was always an unidentified Clown.

Clowns may look happy on the outside, but this often hides tragedy. Photo by Shawn Campbell, Flikr BY-NC-ND

The Clown often starts with good intentions. They lighten the mood, crack a joke, and even help defuse tension. Clowns can be useful to bring energy to a group and help drive a difficult lesson forward. Clowns can develop into Leaders - humour and good empathy make them ideal candidates to bring a group together. But every so often, a Clown takes a different path and ends up with a compulsive need for attention. When this happens, their act quickly gets stale. The class stops laughing, starts groaning, and dreads the next interruption. A good laugh every now and then is healthy; constant distractions are not.

Every child has a story, and teachers should act as a stabilising adult. Every teacher should give a fresh start to every student, no matter the challenge, demonstrating the student cannot push the teacher away. This is an adult in control of their emotions. The Student cannot do anything to make the teacher abandon them. Too often, Clowns are invisible at home, emotionally rejected by caregivers, or worse. Despite this, a few Clowns miss out on the teachers, mentors, and leaders they deserve, and become bitter.

Enter, Player 1

When a Clown starts to develop a compulsive need for attention, they start to see themselves as the Main Character (MC). They believe they are the hero not just of their own story, but of every story. Everybody wants to hear what they have to say. Everybody needs to hear what they have to say. Before long, the Main Character starts believing that nobody else needs any input. Why would they? The Main Character's ideas are just that good. They don't need improving. Everything else is a pale imitation.

Of course, people who act this way are usually shunned. At primary school we learn that others dislike people who take all the attention. So a Main Character (filled with another good idea) realises that they can pretend to listen to others. They can pretend to ask for advice. They can pretend to work with others. "After all," they think, "once everyone hears my ideas, they will realise how good they are and want to do it my way anyway." And so they work on becoming charming. And becoming eloquent. And waiting.

Warning Signs

If you listen to a group with an undercover Main Character you can spot the signs. It is as if they aren't listening, just waiting for the speaker to pause. They like to write things down for the group, but what they write usually favours only their ideas. (Reading notes from such a brainstorming session make it sound as if there was only one person involved!) They like to make big promises. They often have a 'voice' - a tone they use when speaking to others about their own ideas that makes them appear very grand.

Left unchecked, MC can do a lot of damage to a group. Rebels don't feel acknowledged and start lashing out. Slackers do even less because the contributions they do make are ignored. Leaders spend lots of time and energy trying to make things work, compromise, and help MC feel important, but ultimately fail unless they hand over control and do exactly what MC wants. Perfectionists often become a wreck as they keep trying to bring the group back to the actual task, only for MC to block them and drag things further away in service of The Idea. Helpers have often seen this before; if they are friendly with MC, they will support them, if not they will ignore them.

But why are MCs groups so unsuccessful?

It's because a Main Character has a different goal to the rest of the group. MC needs to get attention, adoration and acknowledgement. And they don't believe they get that as part of a team. They must be centre stage. When the group has enough of this behaviour - often because the work is now unproductive or unreasonable - people walk away. The Leader is usually last to do this. Leaders believe they can change others; "I alone have seen something in MC that others missed," they say. It's also ego - Leaders struggle to admit they were wrong. They struggle to admit the task was too big or even futile. They want to make it work, but their dedication to the rest of the group (and - let's be honest - the praise that comes with finishing the task) means they salvage what they can and finally say no to MC.

And this is often enough to push MC over the edge.

MC vs The World...

SKDC Standards committee debating a surge of complaints in 2023-24

MC needs constant praise and affirmation because they have a fragile ego and thin skin. While they complain (a lot) about others, they cannot handle any complaints about their behaviour. From MCs view this makes sense: how could their own behaviour be objectionable when they are so much cleverer than anyone else? When MC doesn't get their way, it can't be their fault. It must be a conspiracy. "They cannot understand what I am doing here," MC mutters, "they aren't bright/compassionate/committed enough." The whole episode feels Unjust. "They said they would help, but I didn't get my way. They lied to me. They betrayed me. They are biased against me...they hate me."

Once MC makes the jump to thinking people disagree with them and not their ideas, they make it "Me vs Them." They aren't dealing with friends or classmates anymore. MC is dealing with Enemies. The classic enemy is the person who first says "no" to MC. This is usually a teacher. MC gets angry. They complain to any authority they think is higher than the teacher. I have had Main Characters complain about me to line managers, headteachers, governors, their MP, and the local paper. One particularly incensed young person crafted a letter to the UN. I don't know if they ever sent it. I hope they got a reply.

This may seem irrational. But for MC, this is completely rational. They are hurting. They feel rejected. They feel betrayed. So MC wants their enemy to feel the same. They want their enemy to be rejected by as many as possible. Dysregulated and lacking empathy, MC is incapable of understanding what a proportionate response looks like. Their pain is all-encompassing. It hurts so much they lash out as hard and far and fast as possible to inflict the same on their tormentor.

At this point, the trigger is long forgotten. Like a photocopy of a photocopy of a photocopy, the memory is now nothing like the original. To even a casual observer, MC twists words, leaves out context or events, and lies and fabricates. They need others to be on their side. I'm not sure it's even conscious - they are trying to find the right combination of words to bring people to their side, against their enemy. And they believe this new reality they have made for themselves. Even if caught on camera, MC will not recognise factchecking by others - anyone who tries is dismissed as biased or in cahoots with the Enemy.

Recovery: Progression, not Perfection

I have only taught three students like this in 15 years. The schools I have worked in don't really allow for this sort of approach long-term. MCs either leave the school with a big chip on their shoulder, become isolated and friendless, or mature into a healthier young adult. Still, I remember each of these students because of the negative impact they had on my classes. I wonder if this has carried into their adult lives and careers.

I remember feeling very sad for these children. When they left the school, I knew education had failed them. I knew these MCs would take these tactics into their adult life, believing their own hype, certain they didn't need anyone else. I knew this because I am a recovering MC. My social media was filled with self-serving monologues and attacks. I would proudly display on my feed my latest putdown of an Enemy in the comment section of some website. I wrote strongly-worded letters to the editor.

Scroll through my social media now, and you’ll see posts about community safety, charity events, local job opportunities, and waste collection updates. These may not be headline-grabbing issues, but they are what others care about. I lead, not by putting myself forward, but by lifting others up. I want Bourne to know about local volunteering, charity drives, and funding opportunities. I want my community to hear about flood alerts, consultations, and road closures. Not all councillors are doing this. And as a recovering MC, I know there is a better way. Put residents first.

Dare to Lead

If you cannot compromise, you cannot lead. You can only dictate. If you cannot consider any ideas but your own, and insist your ideas are perfect, you cannot lead. You can only delude. If you cannot listen, allow others their voice, or value what others say, you cannot lead. You can only dominate. If you don't put others first, they will put you last.

*BFF = Best Friends Forever. Which makes the maxim BFF forever redundant and deeply annoying to me.

What can I do?

• Engage with your representatives - tell them when their behaviour is unacceptable.

• Filter your feed - hide or block posts from public figures that don't meet a high standard.

• Promote good work - like, comment, and share posts from politicians acting properly.

• Complain - every local authority has a code of conduct. If your representative is ignoring their code of conduct, email the authority to complain.

• Vote - as always, it comes down to who you want representing you. If you suspect your elected Member is an unrepentant Main Character, consider voting differently at the next election, or even standing yourself!