Waiting for Superman

“My people perish for a lack of knowledge.”
Hosea 4:6

Greetings folks. I write to you not from the familiar confines of my home as is usually the case. I’m writing today’s post from work. There are a number of reasons to explain this: 1) I’ve been under the weather for the past couple of days and have been less focused on preparing this week’s post than I was on getting rid of whatever germs I’m sure my students gave me. 2) I guess I can blame it on my illness, but I haven’t been moved to write anything in the past week until now.

When I got up this morning and looked at my calendar I knew I had a busy day today: class, a couple of meetings, errands and manscaping before dark. However, after doping myself up with Nyquil and Johnnie Walker (not sure that was safe but I’m alive to talk about it) I woke up MUCH better than I went to bed and ready to take on the day. That was until I actually got here. When I got here, everything appeared to be business as usual. I put the “Bell Ringer” on the board, a quote which the students get 10 minutes to think, reflect, and share their thoughts about before going into the agenda and then to work. There really wasn’t much to cover on the agenda as we were testing, a fact known to them since Monday. However, to hear them talk amongst themselves you would think that this was a surprise. You would think that somehow I pulled this test out of my behind in an attempt to fail them all and force them to spend the summer with me in summer school. (Something that’s not even possible because they don’t offer this class during summer school and even if they did I wouldn’t teach it.) However, I ignored the rumblings and continued with my routine.

On Monday I gave the students an in class quiz/review to recap the chapter and give them something to help them study for their test on Wednesday. I even took it a step further and informed them that if they emailed me their quiz/review by Tuesday at 3:00, I would check it and have it back to them by that evening. Guess how many students took me up on this offer. No, really. Guess. 1. 1 out of 25 students. What’s worse is that the one who turned it in didn’t finish. Despite having over an hour of in-class time to complete it and all day Monday and most of the day Tuesday, she didn't finish.

So I administer the test in the computer lab across the hall from my class because I don’t have enough computers for them to take it in my class. To see the blank stares on their faces when they pulled up this 25 question test, you would think that I gave them an exam on quantum physics in a class about elementary math. But all they had to do was study. Do the quiz/review and study. I decided to help them out by taking the 15 questions from the quiz/review, verbatim, and placing it on the 25 question test. Even if they only got the 15 questions right from the quiz they were guaranteed at least a “D.” If they could get lucky and answer a few of the other 10 questions, it was very likely they could get a “C” or a “B.”

George Washington Carver once said that “Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.” If Mr. Carver is correct our youth are going to need a locksmith. Let me remind you that I teach “bright kids.” I’m not teaching the lowest performing, or even middle of the pack kids. I teach high performing, AP, dual enrollment, honors, gifted, magnet students and this is what I get. I’m saddened, troubled, disturbed and taken aback by the lack of respect, urgency and appreciation, and the sense of entitlement these students have.

They may be able to crack codes to get onto Facebook, despite the district’s firewall but they don’t know how to do a PowerPoint. They may be able to figure out how to download new music/movies for free, but they don’t know how to attach a Word document to an email. They may be able to tell you every line from a Lil Wayne song, but can’t tell you what’s in the Bill of Rights. Did I mention that these kids are “smart”?

They have no idea of the cutthroat world that awaits them on the other side of graduation. They don’t have a clue that they’re not just in competition with their classmates, but with students in the district, around the nation, and abroad. I love my school, I truly do. However, I would be lying if I told you that my high school diploma and my Top 5% ranking prepared me for life after high school. I’m quick to acknowledge that my friends and I are the exception to the rule as opposed to the rule itself. Many of my classmates, some of whom finished in front of me academically, struggled mightily with the transition to college. For some, the transition was so much that they either took more than 4/5 years to graduate or didn’t graduate at all.

I’ve tried to relay this message and my experience to them and it goes in one ear and out the other. Apparently they have it all figured it out: world hunger, the economic crisis, peace in the Middle East, and the jobs situation. The adults who get paid to fix these problems and have years of experience and schooling to do so may not have answers, but these kids do. I guess I should consider myself lucky to work with such a bright group of students. I haven’t given up hope yet and I’m still fighting the “good fight.” Until next time, Stay Up and Be Blessed!