A snitch: according to urban dictionary’s top result, (1) a person who tells on someone, (2) a bum of a person. Furthermore, words related to snitch are: rat, informant, snake, punk, and tattle tale (to name those that aren’t cuss words or use derogatory language). To sum it up, snitches are not good- right?

Well here lies the problem, either snitch is being used in the wrong context, or these definitions are wrong.
Sitting in class, my teacher has returned after being absent the previous day. With her leave she had left instructions for us to complete an assignment. Other than a very select few, no one has done the assignment. In their eyes, yesterday had been a blow off period and the opportune time to chat with friends. Yet, of course, they didn’t tell our teacher that. Instead they framed our substitute.

He didn’t do his job right, they’d say, not that they were too lazy to do their part of the job. And even when someone suggests telling the truth, their friends would hastily warn them, don’t be a snitch. Some of these are legit worries for their friends. The class will hate them, let someone else do it, etc. Others use it as a threat; don’t be a pest or we will have mess, or the more commonly practiced phrased, snitches get stitches.

Okay so no one speaks up, now what? A student may not have gotten hurt- put the substitute did.

When the class lies to the teacher that the substitute didn’t do their job(s) and that was why they didn’t do their work, they put that substitute’s credentials at risk. Do you stand complacent as their reputation is hurt?

The teacher won’t be mad at anyone and they might even give you extra time to finish the assignment. Yet they also vow to never hire that substitute again. That substitute has now lost one of their employers. Do you tell the truth?

The class will hate you for it. You either get them in trouble, perhaps even have to face the consequences with them; extra homework, their distrust. The teacher will forget you were on the side of justice, you’ll be labeled with them even when they’re against you. Because they won’t forget. They won’t forget you were the snitch.

So what’s better? Be a snitch and get ostracized or be silent and allow an innocent to get penalized instead? It’s very much like Harry Potter, you want to catch the snitch in quidditch to end the game, yet at the end the snitch, who always held the truth, helped end the war when the truth was revealed.