One of my students approached me a few days before our three day weekend with a business card. “Can you call my boss?” he asked me. I stared at him for a beat with my “whaaa?” face. “She won’t officially hire me until I’m passing your class.”
“Fantastic!” I thought to myself. This kid has under a 50% and he wants me to call his boss? My student received a 30% on a research report he barely wrote back in November and still has yet to rewrite it. Perfect timing for this request! “How’s this weekend?”
“I’m booked,” he replied. BOOKED?! Child, you are FIFTEEN YEARS OLD! What kind of fifteen year old is booked?!
I took a deep breath.
I fought for words.
“Well, when do you want to start working?”
“As soon as possible.”
“Then get me that essay as soon as possible.”
Regardless of my less than stellar comeback, I couldn’t believe it. He was “booked”?! This is what education is coming to. Children who are failing their classes even when being given the chance to make up their work, with no point deductions for lateness and failure the first time around, are too busy to focus on school. They have made other plans. School is not any type of priority and in three days he can find absolutely no time to rewrite or add to his report, even when a job was on the line. Amazing.
What values are we teaching our future when school and education come last?
And then I ask myself…
What lessons do we need to take away from our students when school becomes so unimportant that it is placed last?
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