Crash Course

Three stories come to mind- to remind me of the hazardous conditions that coerced education mines. 

One: I passed out in class.  I got very excited.  It was the day after parent-teacher conferences and there was a particularly difficult parent I confronted. This mom was outraged that her child did not have an A in AP Psychology.  She had a hight B.  After listening to mom rant about how an A is absolutely necessary to …I never got to the why…(same old, same old-, she won’t get into the college.. blah blah) and I was compelled to stop her.  I grabbed her hand and said “your daughter is amazing!  She is thoughtful, caring, smart and compassionate.”  I gave her a few examples as to the greatness of her child and then said: “which would you rather have?  A supporting loving relationship with this amazing kid (your daughter) or do you want a fleeting A?”  Thankfully, she stopped talking and left. The next day my student asked me what I told her mom because her mom came home after conferences, hugged her and told her the A didn’t matter as much as her sprit. After telling me this, the student hugged me and said thank you.  It was the beginning of class.  I was so overcome with joy for this student, but class was about to begin so I walked around the room to my desk and just tumbled.  Face down, glasses on into a bookcase.  I was conscious again after a few seconds but my brain went from “hey, time to take attendance” to a self-voice echoing “hey, why is my face on the carpet?”  

Weird.  But, here is the clincher.  No one moved.  I’m lying on the floor and not one student moved to help.  A former student who just happened to be visiting and had first-aid knowledge acted quickly.  Thanks B, and B for lumbering downstairs for the nurse!  I was fine, and on my feet in minutes but I later asked my class, what happened?  We chatted about ‘group think,’ ‘conformity’, Kitty Genovese/“the bystander effect”, and other AP Psych terms for final review, but the question lingered.  Why did no student seated get up to assist? Sorry “R” I know this story hurts because you love me and wanted to help.  Me? 

I witnessed the bystander effect first hand. It wasn’t that students didn’t love or respect me, I hope.  It was that we condition our kids to the point of complacency.  Pithed. They, the students, simply don’t know what to do.  After a lifetime of conditioning of “do this, don’t do that” why would they respond otherwise? Commanded rely on the command.  Crash.  Course completed.  

Two: I recall a student, a senior, who got bone cancer his junior year of high school.  Finals were coming up and “J” had a math class to complete.  Algebra II was of prime importance in education, thus ‘required’ for graduation.  The paradigm for progress of his “success” in life.  A primer baseball player, “J” nonetheless was pressured into taking  a complex Algebra II math final test.  He was sick.  He was undergoing gut-wrenching cancer treatments that made him miss the final on the mandatory scheduled date. Although he had a passing grade up to the final, the final test was ‘critical’ for a terminal patient/ student.  Final make up day was set.  His mom provided a puke bucket for him to vomit in due to his chemo treatments, but he took the final and passed.  He graduated from high school and died the following May.  I cannot comprehend the complete uselessness of this coercion.  His passion was baseball.  Higher math was not only a waste of his time it kept him from the time he could have spent with his passion- baseball-  and his loved ones. Course completed.  Crash. 

Three: Psychotic episode.  The year prior to covid, I had a student that started acting erratic in class.  He stood up in the middle of a lecture, interrupted me several times- talking loudly, pointing at posters in the room and rambling about space and the universe and then just gibberish. After a few minutes of this, he swiftly changed demeanor, pulled out some clear play-dough stuff out of his back pack started rolling it into balls on his desk making mumbling sounds about colors again. There are 27 other students in class concerned. 

Now, I had been at this school for 19 years and have requested security one time. This was that one time.  Clearly he was on drugs, truly psychotic, or what- you tell me.  It was not pretty.  The next day I was told by an administrator that he will be placed back in my class.  Ok, it didn’t happen exactly like that.  What happened was - I asked an administrator to remove him from my class.  It was an elective class and not necessary for graduation, and I said this kid might not be in the best mental place for my class content. I was scared, the other students were scared. 

I was told I “might be exaggerating” and that the matter will be looked into.  That night, in my home, I received a call from the mom of this student.  No, I don’t know how she got my home number.  But after talking to an administrator I assume, she made a plea to me personally to allow him back in class. So I’m put in an unreasonable position.  Of course he was going to come back to class.  It’s about the bodies.  

What happened next?  Right. One day later he was readmitted. And yes, he did the exact same thing. I took pics of his desk after he was escorted out (for the second time) because I felt like I needed evidence.  What am I CSI? I felt threatened, belittled and bullied, oh no, not by the kid, by the people ‘in charge’.  I feel for the kid! Another pawn in the BM.  What about him?  He clearly needed help. I liked him.  We talked later and he felt really bad. He was sober and I think he would have actually benefitted from my class and I would have loved his input, but sadly, it’s not about him. He was moved to an english class.  Wanna guess what happened? Yea,  the message is clear- we care more about your body in a desk than your well being and the safety of others.  Crash course.