Back to Work -- January 21, 2009

Today was my first day back to work in about a month and a half. I had a series of medical problems and two operations which kept me away from school for a while.

The assignment today was supposedly to give a class a test. However, when I arrived at the classroom, I learned that they had already taken the test and done most of the work they would have due in a few days.

I had some interesting conversations with a few of the students. A few worked on homework for other classes, but most listened to their iPods or fooled around with video games on their telephones.

The teacher keeps a series of books, one for each student, in which their quizzes and tests are filed. Several of the students showed me their books -- straight A's. I asked one student to show me his book because I suspected that he is a very bright kid who isn't reaching his potential.

He refused to tell me his name, finally told it to me, but was really insolent and nasty. He claimed his book was at home, which I knew wasn't true because all the books were on the shelf in the classroom. However, there wasn't one with his name on it.

Because he was so rude and disrespectful, I wrote him up. He wanted to take the slip himself to the office. "No thanks," I said. "I take them there myself."

When I checked later at the office and looked at his grades and contact information, I discovered that there is only a woman in his household listed as contact -- no father -- that his grade point average is a 1.0, and that he has been written up a number of times. He is in the 11th grade, and his record shows that he isn't going to graduate.

A rude, disrespectful kid is normally someone no teacher can help unless they have some way of creating an extraordinary rapport with him or her. A few kids I can do this with. Most I cannot.

My prediction is that in a few years this kid will end up in prison. I hope someone somewhere can reach him, but I am fairly sure it cannot be me.

It is very fashionable to blame teachers for the lack of progress students make. In this class, about 80% get A's or B's. The problem here is with this kid's home life and upbringing. No amount of federal legislation will ever correct that.