Whine of the Substitute.
Oct. 13th, 2009 01:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
learnteachJust a whine, pass on...
Man, I get that you're poor, and underpriveledged. I get that you don't have nice shit, and that you don't understand what you need to do. I get that you come from a tradition of peasants, people who work the land, and that you'll be the first in your family to graduate from high school, and the first, assuming you make it, to get into college.
You're in an upper level high school science class, with a teacher (sub) who has made money on the subject (basic circuits), has a passion for it, knows it so well that he can look at the problem and tell you the answer. And can explain it, show it to you, tell you how to build it, draw it out, and doesn't look down on you for not knowing--I'm excited just to play with the concept.
And you can't be bothered to get a pen and paper out when told, you have to have the teacher come sit on you, tell you to do it bit by bit. Can't be bothered to actually write down the questions on the board, can't be bothered to put away your electronic distraction devices and stop talking unless the teacher is standing right next to you. Yeah, you're adolescent, and you've got to challenge THE MAN and be the (c)rap star you know you can be, reciting the lyrics in the class...
...but from up here, you're not just a pitiful fool who is failing the class; the time spent on sorting you, and the other four of you out, in different corners of the classroom, means that the smarter students can cover all the material in 20 minutes. You're dragging down the whole class, the whole school, and you know it. You feel like shit for it. But you're not willing to try and change it.
You turn in blank sheets. You don't care, you'll fail. Don't have to work too hard, eventually you'll slide on through. And the teachers always give up eventually; they can't handle the class with you and your bros in it. But the funding system in the schools, combined with the "every one goes to college" and the NCLB "mainstream them all" rules, means I can't kick you out of the classroom and teach those who want to learn, who are getting so frustrated...
Who's the fool? You, the teenager? The people who put this system in place, and bluntly speaking, it was that failing Texas asshole regime that put the "run school like a business and we'll solve all our problems"? The lower grade teachers who passed you on? The system, which can't give you athletics, or trade school, or any vision that doesn't lead through college?
Or me, for bothering to try to get you to care?
Who's the fool now?
Oh, and by the way? If you listened, you'd know what to do. If you looked, you'd realize that everybody is poor, and you're dragging us all down. And you're a teenager, it's confusing, why not try listening to some of the survivors of that?
So...just another day in class paradise, watching class distinctions be chosen. Because it's a choice you have, not to study...but on the other hand, your parents are amazed that you've made it this far; they can barely read and write.
I am the fool. And I want to work with students who challenge me, rather than require me to discipline them continually. Ain't gonna happen, though; you don't get to teach the good ones, because you can't escape the bad ones.
Man, I get that you're poor, and underpriveledged. I get that you don't have nice shit, and that you don't understand what you need to do. I get that you come from a tradition of peasants, people who work the land, and that you'll be the first in your family to graduate from high school, and the first, assuming you make it, to get into college.
You're in an upper level high school science class, with a teacher (sub) who has made money on the subject (basic circuits), has a passion for it, knows it so well that he can look at the problem and tell you the answer. And can explain it, show it to you, tell you how to build it, draw it out, and doesn't look down on you for not knowing--I'm excited just to play with the concept.
And you can't be bothered to get a pen and paper out when told, you have to have the teacher come sit on you, tell you to do it bit by bit. Can't be bothered to actually write down the questions on the board, can't be bothered to put away your electronic distraction devices and stop talking unless the teacher is standing right next to you. Yeah, you're adolescent, and you've got to challenge THE MAN and be the (c)rap star you know you can be, reciting the lyrics in the class...
...but from up here, you're not just a pitiful fool who is failing the class; the time spent on sorting you, and the other four of you out, in different corners of the classroom, means that the smarter students can cover all the material in 20 minutes. You're dragging down the whole class, the whole school, and you know it. You feel like shit for it. But you're not willing to try and change it.
You turn in blank sheets. You don't care, you'll fail. Don't have to work too hard, eventually you'll slide on through. And the teachers always give up eventually; they can't handle the class with you and your bros in it. But the funding system in the schools, combined with the "every one goes to college" and the NCLB "mainstream them all" rules, means I can't kick you out of the classroom and teach those who want to learn, who are getting so frustrated...
Who's the fool? You, the teenager? The people who put this system in place, and bluntly speaking, it was that failing Texas asshole regime that put the "run school like a business and we'll solve all our problems"? The lower grade teachers who passed you on? The system, which can't give you athletics, or trade school, or any vision that doesn't lead through college?
Or me, for bothering to try to get you to care?
Who's the fool now?
Oh, and by the way? If you listened, you'd know what to do. If you looked, you'd realize that everybody is poor, and you're dragging us all down. And you're a teenager, it's confusing, why not try listening to some of the survivors of that?
So...just another day in class paradise, watching class distinctions be chosen. Because it's a choice you have, not to study...but on the other hand, your parents are amazed that you've made it this far; they can barely read and write.
I am the fool. And I want to work with students who challenge me, rather than require me to discipline them continually. Ain't gonna happen, though; you don't get to teach the good ones, because you can't escape the bad ones.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 10:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 02:13 pm (UTC)xo
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 02:35 pm (UTC)(hugs)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 05:00 pm (UTC)I love you LearnTeach!
Don't give up. There is probably at least one kid in there who is listening.
At least that's what I always told myself during my 37 years of teaching.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-13 05:48 pm (UTC)I feel ya and I feel for ya
Date: 2009-10-14 03:29 am (UTC)I handed back the work with a 0 on it (because no work was done) with no comment the first time and the second time.
On the third time I said, "It really frustrates me to give zeroes to someone I know is smart and can do the work. But I can only grade the work you give me, so you keep giving me nothing and I will grade it as such. Personally, that bums me out, because I know you can do the work and get better grades. But I will keep giving you the grades you earn, because to be fair, I have to try to grade everyone based on their work, no matter how smart I might think they are."
There was a pretty significant improvement within a few days.
The other kid I tried it on didn't care. He just wants to good enough to go into the military like dear old dad.