Unhappy Adults
“I don’t have time to do my own thing,” I say to myself, without thinking realizing what a silly thing it is to say, so I follow up by saying to myself, “You make your own time.” Very true.
In class today V spoke of revenge. V is one my rowdiest students. Today was his last class. As usual, V spoke without raising hand and used words like stupid and gay and screwed toward other students, and so I invited him for a little chat after class, after all the students left, we talked. It was the only way to truly communicate.
“I’m worried about you. Do you think you can change?” I asked.
“No, because I like it this way,” he replied.
“Why?”
“Because I want revenge,”
“And to whom are you carrying this revenge?”
“Mrs. C--- (who is our school principal),”
“And why do you want to revenge against her?”
“Because she’s old and ugly,”
“You know it’s not her fault that she’s old and ugly. In fact, nobody wants to be ugly and it’s not their fault,”
“I also want revenge against my mom’s friends because they are old and ugly and strange,”
“What about me? Don’t you want revenge against me for giving you homework all the time?”
“No,”
I asked V whether he likes his new school and if he has made new friends. He said yes. I also asked him if there was anything he wanted to say to me.
“Can I go now?” he asked.
So I let him go. I know my class will be a lot more peaceful from now on, but I am also worried about where life will take V. During class we study grammar and sentences and the students are all taking notes or chatting so I cannot share with him my thoughts. And when I do share with him my thoughts, he might be too young to understand. But even that’s okay. As long as we communicate, it’s okay. But I wonder about parents.
Grades don’t matter. Grammar don’t matter. Whether your son is smart or not, how are you to judge? Define smart. Define happiness.
There I have it. The next time parents come to me, I will hand them a questionnaire, like one of them tests I give to my highschoolers, and ask them to write in English prose, the answers to the following questions:
Define sucesss.
Define happiness.
Chances are, they’ll give me shitty answers. I’ve learned to expect very little of parents.
As a teacher I’m breaking a lot of rules. I also want to beat the tar out of parents who don’t know how to make their children happy. It takes very little. Parents don’t realize. Adults, what beings, how unreliable.
I can imagine myself a counselor in school. “Take interest” and “follow your interest” are two things I will tell kids.
It’s funny. I feel like revisiting Catcher in the Rye.
I need to build up my skills, and get myself into a position where I can make a difference, and really show these dull and unhappy adults.
In class today V spoke of revenge. V is one my rowdiest students. Today was his last class. As usual, V spoke without raising hand and used words like stupid and gay and screwed toward other students, and so I invited him for a little chat after class, after all the students left, we talked. It was the only way to truly communicate.
“I’m worried about you. Do you think you can change?” I asked.
“No, because I like it this way,” he replied.
“Why?”
“Because I want revenge,”
“And to whom are you carrying this revenge?”
“Mrs. C--- (who is our school principal),”
“And why do you want to revenge against her?”
“Because she’s old and ugly,”
“You know it’s not her fault that she’s old and ugly. In fact, nobody wants to be ugly and it’s not their fault,”
“I also want revenge against my mom’s friends because they are old and ugly and strange,”
“What about me? Don’t you want revenge against me for giving you homework all the time?”
“No,”
I asked V whether he likes his new school and if he has made new friends. He said yes. I also asked him if there was anything he wanted to say to me.
“Can I go now?” he asked.
So I let him go. I know my class will be a lot more peaceful from now on, but I am also worried about where life will take V. During class we study grammar and sentences and the students are all taking notes or chatting so I cannot share with him my thoughts. And when I do share with him my thoughts, he might be too young to understand. But even that’s okay. As long as we communicate, it’s okay. But I wonder about parents.
Grades don’t matter. Grammar don’t matter. Whether your son is smart or not, how are you to judge? Define smart. Define happiness.
There I have it. The next time parents come to me, I will hand them a questionnaire, like one of them tests I give to my highschoolers, and ask them to write in English prose, the answers to the following questions:
Define sucesss.
Define happiness.
Chances are, they’ll give me shitty answers. I’ve learned to expect very little of parents.
As a teacher I’m breaking a lot of rules. I also want to beat the tar out of parents who don’t know how to make their children happy. It takes very little. Parents don’t realize. Adults, what beings, how unreliable.
I can imagine myself a counselor in school. “Take interest” and “follow your interest” are two things I will tell kids.
It’s funny. I feel like revisiting Catcher in the Rye.
I need to build up my skills, and get myself into a position where I can make a difference, and really show these dull and unhappy adults.
posted by Adam C at
10:27 PM
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