The English Teacher

I think that new teachers, like myself, tend to have very idealistic pictures of what teaching is going to be like.  When I first got into this profession, I was excited and ready to make a difference in the lives of these young minds.  However, I don’t know if it’s me, this generation of students, or merely the student population at my school, but my ardor has cooled considerably.  It’s depressing that I’m the only one who is concerned about whether or not a student is going to pass the first quarter of his freshman year.  Shouldn’t it be the student who is more interested in that information?

The other day, I had a particularly recalcitrant student who was being a, for the lack of a better word, a complete jackass.  He was doing the work that assigned him–summarizing three articles he had read–but he was doing it in a way that was completely impractical for him to write and for me to read.  Basically, he wrote the whole thing out backwards with the first word in the lower right corner.  I told him I didn’t have the time to read something like that and asked him to rewrite it properly.  My aide had scanned through it and said that it was a good summary and also suggested he rewrite it.  There was plenty of time left in class, but he chose not to.  Instead, he sat and doodled the entire time.  When I told him if he would prefer failing, he just nodded and sullenly sat at his desk.  I even threatened to call his mom and he exploded and said, “I don’t care!  She’s already been called 20 million times!”

So, what do I do with this student?  I had no choice but to leave him and let him fail.  I have other students in the class who want to do well and were working diligently at their assigned task.  Is it fair for me to neglect them in order to cajole and threaten one student who obviously did not want to be in the class?  Should I have remained at the side of the student who, in his own words, wanted to drop out of school?  In my mind, the choice was clear.  Though he may be a confused adolescent, he had made his decision.  He wanted to fail.  From that moment on, my main responsibility shifted to the other students.  It may be cold, but I am willing to sacrifice one student in order to ensure the success of the rest. 

Fortunately, the student returned the next day and asked how he could bring his grades up.  This was a bit of a shock, but sometime between the two days, something had happened that had motivated him.  I just hope that he can maintain this and succeed.  However, if the situation ever arises when he decides that he won’t, not can’t, do the work, then I am going to lead the other students on and leave him behind.