Are kids as mean as everyone says they are?

Do you find, as teacher, that kids are as mean as everyone says they are?
No, I find, as a teacher, that kids basically want one thing: someone to care about them. I have found that kids who try being mean are often mistreated at home in some way, either by neglect or with bad examples of how to treat others. I have also found that kids experiment with how to behave, sometimes making bad choices, but when they are punished properly, caught, and taught better, they are better off. I find, in my classes, each and every year with no exception, that children learn how to work together nicely, understand one another, and feel comfortable being themselves. I have never had a class or a student who was “bad”. They are too new to this earth to be “bad”. They are learning and in my 14 years of teaching I have never found a child who couldn’t learn to be kind.