Do You Want to Live Your Life on Easy?

Ah, progress reports.  That delightful time of the year when teachers hastily grade items so as to have tangible evidence of their assessment of student effort, understanding, and…progress.  Although the comments are a serious pain to write, once a critical mass of the class’s comments are written (i.e., every “type” of student  is represented) ctrl+C and ctrl+V, with minor modification, can take over.   For example:

[...]is a gifted mathematics student who has the potential to excel in any subject.  She can be a pleasure to teach, and that would be aided by her participating in class more.  Her behavior is generally not an issue, unless she is sleeping in class.  Despite this, her work is generally exceptional and her great attendance has allowed her to keep up with the material better than most students.  When [...] puts effort into class, it is extremely evident, as her work is unparalleled.  She is also willing to ask questions, which is essential to understanding in mathematics.

and

[...]is a gifted student with some deficiencies in her mathematical understanding.  She is generally a pleasure to teach, as she is sometimes ready to participate without prompting.  She has no problem asking for help, but unfortunately, she can be distracted at times by her classmates, and is sometimes the cause of such distraction.  Her work is generally of a good caliber and her great attendance has allowed her the time necessary to approach mastery of the material.  I would like to see more focus from [...], and a more hardworking attitude.

The comments are a necessary evil.  It gives the advisor something to use during the sit-down with a student, in case he or she doesn’t actually teach that student.  It’s extremely useful when teachers independently develop a convergent analysis of a student.  I think that helps to get the message to the student that a) they are really awesome, or b) they need to get their shit together.  Sometimes, however, the ones that really don’t have it together are so out of touch and/or nihilistic that one it takes a bit more than a comment to get to them.  These are the ones with whom a teacher invests all of their management energies on a daily basis.  No work completed, no desire to pay attention, constant talking, the list is endless.   Often, these behaviors are not purely out of a deficiency.  It may be boredom, only because it’s some of the most talented students who present in this manner.  Consider the comment I made to one of these Nietzschean students:

[...] is an incredibly talented student who is not currently working at his potential.  His attendance has thus far been abysmal, and his work habits and assignment completion are not reflective of his potential.  At times he can be distracting, but his behavior thus far this week has been a marked improvement over the previous month.  I only hope that he comes to understand his potential so that he can do the great things of which he is capable.

This one is a fifteen year old who could run circles around the rest of the class, but is so terrifically unmotivated that he is starting to regress.  For him, the comment was not enough.  It did not get the message home.  The sit-down was necessary.  During this talk, we got real.  We spoke about what he wants out of life, and that it’s necessary to demonstrate effort now so that he can grow accustomed to putting effort forth.  This wasn’t quite getting across, and he was still fairly unmoved.  It was at this point that the opportunity for a delightful analogy presented itself.  I inquired, “Do you like playing video games on easy?” to which he responded, “No, that’s boring.”  Booyah.  He walked right into it.  Attempting to conceal my self-content, I replied with the only response possible, “Do you want to live your life on easy?”

And then I hit Down, Up, Left, Left, A, Right, Down, and pulled his spine out.

Hiatus

After several months of silence, I feel that I finally have something meaningful (completely up-to-you) to say. It’s taken a strange combination of teaching a population comprised mostly of undocumented immigrants, an inebriated conversation with a conservative consultant at a karaoke bar, my purchasing a skateboard, canvassing in Virginia and the steadfast approach of winter for me to realize that we, as a nation, are completely screwed if we don’t win this election.

1) Back to School

October is coming to an end and I feel like I am burnt out. But that doesn’t compare to the fact that my school is contemplating a switch to a year-round calendar, the students have no desire to take part in my activities, and I have no energy to wake up in a timely fashion for me to make it to work un-tardily. I spend all my free time working on something, and I have no desire to change anything, because I love every minute of it.

2) That Tramp at Millie & Al’s

purple rain, purple raiiiiiiiiiiiiiin.

I thought I was being slick inserting myself into a conversation she was having about universal health-care (foolishly assuming that she, like most attractive women at Karaoke, favors it). It turns out that she is not in favor of it for any pertinent, sound, or meaningful ideological reasons, but rather, because, “she doesn’t want to pay for healthcare for illegal immigrants.” Really? Can you understand the plight of an undocumented worker any less? Do you really think that someone who’s terrified of being deported is going to seek social services from the government? And then I sang “Purple Rain”.

3) Quarter-Life Crisis/Maverick-y Actions

one day

I bought a skateboard at a skateboard boutique on Friday. I didn’t even know they had those. But they do, and they are full of the chic-est goods that one can find in an up-and-coming gentrified neighborhood. Nevertheless, I was extremely proud of my purchase, so much so that I ventured into a tertiary street to practice skating, when I promptly fell on my ass several times. But, it’s a nice mode of transportation, assuming that I can learn how to maintain my balance and stop bruising myself. Hey, at least I’m doing my part to stimulate the economy.

4) The Swing State Experience

During my canvassing, I realized several things. First, people in suburbia have a completely different way-of-life. I had forgotten this in my adventures in the big city. Also, the vast majority of people will not answer their door when a 6’3″ Black stranger knocks, unless they themselves are black, their boyfriend is a black male with dreadlocks, or they are already voting for Obama. Finally, the demographic information on the forms is remarkably deceiving. Let’s have an experiment (I have changed names to protect the innocent). You are walking up to the door of Jane Doe, 22 F. Imagine what she looks like…WRONG! She’s 5 feet tall, 250 pounds, and wearing a tank top that shows far too much for her to be opening the door.  Personally, I blame the liberal media for biasing our opinions.

5) The Weather Outside Is Frightful

nothing beats it.

I lost/misplaced/had my jacket stolen. It’s too cold out, and my bundling is taking a toll on my skateboarding mobility. But besides that misfortune, there’s nothing better than Autumn in DC.

Isn’t there someone who gets paid to do that?

On Wednesday, a meeting scheduled to last an hour somehow extended itself at least an extra 93 minutes. I know, because I counted every tick of my Flava Flav clock that I wear to staff meetings to keep time. The meeting involved all of the teachers on staff, but it wasn’t a status-of-the-school staff meeting, but rather, a school-vision-and-mission-and-student-body-composition-and-state-mandated-restructuring staff meeting. Needless to say, as a third-month teacher, I don’t have much to add to these conversations, beyond the pragmatic, “Wrap it up, B”:

Obviously the problems of meetings beyond the scope and experience level of the staff are not endemic to the education industry, but I feel that other entities probably have more capital to invest in an outside organization to do the [grunt/boring/tedious/hard] work. I feel that the more efficient way of achieving this “new vision/design” would have been through educational consultants who can come up with a handful of plans based on interviews with senior members of the staff who have the best idea of where the school came from and where it should go. While I understand the importance of the egalitarian method that this school is attepmting to use, all it achieves is a cyclic arguments that devolve into scheduling discussions. This ad hoc methodology that is currently in effect is going to get us to one place: where we are, having the Charter School Board tell us that the school, once again, isn’t making the grade.

The Great Social Equalizer

is not education. At least not in its current form. As luck would have it, I am instructing in a school that is serving students who were not being served elsewhere. The vast majority of my students are recent immigrants with overwhelmingly limited English-speaking abilities, teenage parents, and individuals who have been through the juvenile justice system after being expelled from “traditional” schools. Thus, the minimum goal of our program is for every student to earn their GED. For student who are over 18, this may be a reasonable alternative. One that may allow them to get their lives on track. Unfortunately, in the process of serving these students, one encounters many exceptional cases, for whom this expectation is not nearly sufficient.

One student, in particular, comes to mind because today we had a heart-to-heart. In the future, I will probably reflect on this conversation as the first one in which I was a legitimate male role model, and went out of my way to be such. This individual is a talented student, and I have known this since my demonstration lesson, when he did the majority of the participation. Gifted in science and mathematics, husky in stature, and with weathered eyes of an journeyman, I could never have guessed him to be fifteen. However, upon finding this out, I was determined to reach him, despite his outbursts of foul language, chronic pacing of the room, and occasional attendance under the influence of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol. Nevertheless, his attendance wasn’t that bad, he worked hard probably despite ADHD, or some other cognitive deficit, and he, like all of my students, is a good kid. At fifteen, he certainly had more than enough time to get enrolled in a traditional high school, finish on-time, and continue with his goal of becoming an mechanical engineer. To my chagrin, though, this student has decided to settle for his GED when he turns sixteen. I have almost no doubt that he could pass the GED now, but fortunately, the law prohibits individuals under the age of sixteen from taking the test. Moreover, he just informed me that his fourteen year old girlfriend is pregnant (the reason for the heart-to-heart).

During our trip to Starbucks during the last period, we discussed everything: his family, how he came to be at this school, where he was previously, problems he’s had, drugs he’s used, his P.O. (parole officer), how expensive Starbucks is, his internship at an auto shop, and finally, his girlfriend’s pregnancy. Although I have known about this pregnancy since he announced it in class a few days ago, I could not bring myself to have this conversation because all I wanted to say was, “GET A FUCKING ABORTION! WTF?!!!!” However, my peers counseled me against an outright counseling of abortion. Most of my friends actually told me not to speak with him at all. Fortunately, I had the blessing of two other teachers who have him in their classes, and being his only male instructor, I had to step up to the plate. Although the conversation was constructive, and allowed me to get to know him as the insightful individual that he is, I cannot say for certain whether I conveyed my point of view to the extent that he will run with his girlfriend to Planned Parenthood for an abortion, because an explicit endorsement like that probably would have been lost in generational and cultural translation. However, I feel that I may have at least convinced him to visit Planned Parenthood for help in managing the birth of his child. Maybe that will open other doors.

So, my school does not provide the equality that the educational system of the country alleges. In fact, it may even be creating a culture of failure and measured/lowered expectations that is unacceptable, but the necessary result of a pragmatic approach to the education of our students. On the other hand, we do have teachers that care sincerely about the welfare of these students, and while that is not enough to overcome situational factors that have brought them to our doors, it is a start. But the system, as it stands, is no social equalizer, for all of my students will never be lab partners with the next Arthur Holly Compton. They may never take a course from Cornel West. They may not be in a book club with Isabel Allende. That is the essence of equality and equity in access to education. But they could very easily share a restroom with any one of the aforementioned individuals, with only a stall wall in-between. Public amenities such as these are the great equalizers of society. Everyone has to poo. And it always smells like shit.