schoolyard subversion

2000-08-29 [< * >]

Ahh, the first day of school. As usual, we rushed through the morning "routine" and into the car. It was an event that I know will be often repeated throughout this year. As we all fought for a seat in the minivan and began our journey to school, my mother turned on the radio. Who came out but Paul Simon joyously singing: "When I look back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all." My mom smiled and said, "Your theme song, eh?" I laughed and smiled back.

It took a while to hit me. Yes, school was starting. Yes, my treasured freedom was slipping away. Yes, it was time for my biggest challenge. Yes, it was going to be a lot of fun.

As we drove closer, I began to feel a pain in my stomach. It grew and grew until I could barely take it anymore. I dashed out of the car, with a wave to my family, and up the stairs to my homeroom. The pain subsided as I took my seat and began to relapse into my school habits.

Sprecher? Here. Strauss? Here. Swartz? "I think, therefore I'm here," I replied. It was how I answered the first day of school last year. A small joke; my first axiom for school. I built on it as the year went on, a new clever phrase each morning. But this year would be different, this year it meant something. I think -- that's why I'm here. And I intend to think this year.

The day went on with speeches and thoughts, etc. The principal sounded nice enough, He understands about the problems with school, but he doesn't seem to realize that there's something he can do about them. Perhaps that will change with time (it will, if I have any say in the matter).

Our new head of school started of the year with a rather dreary lecture about respect. Respect is the kind of thing that everyone agrees on, which is what makes it so terribly hard to talk about, because whenever someone talks about it, they must be implying that some people don't do it, which makes everyone feel uncomfortable. However, our principal seemed to understand this, because he apologized at the end for making us sit through this.

We then went on to receive our textbooks -- as one teacher describe it, "the weightlifting program here". The bag was terribly large and uncomfortable. In it were plenty of textbooks. One of them, which I found particularly humorous, was "World Geography Today". I doubted any paper textbook could be up-to-date, but it was especially funny considering this one was copyrighted in 1997. (Others have different problems with the textbook.)

That is, of course, one of the major complaints about textbooks: they aren't up-to-date. That, along with the fact that they encourage conformist thinking, lazy teachers, lack of questioning, simple subservience and many other things that even the textbook authors, if pressed, would probably admit are not what we should be teaching our kids. In the mean time though, I had to lug around these weights with me.

I forgot to mention the heat. Despite the fact that summer is supposed to be over, it felt like one of the hottest, most humid days of the year. The fact that most of the school isn't air conditioned didn't help much.

Perhaps it was just the heat, but most of the kids had a terribly defeatist attitude. One commented, "Aaron, is it really worth the trouble? You're not going to change anything." Says who? You can do anything if you put your mind to it. Why don't they teach that in school.

We then got the opportunity to meet with most of our teachers for a short fifteen minute period. Short enough for them to tell us their expectations, but not long enough for us to tell them ours. They should find out soon enough, however.

When I had a free moment, our principal grabbed me and ushered me into his office. Strangely, I wasn't concerned or worried as the teachers seemed to indicate students should be when they meet with the principal. Instead, he was a kind and caring person, who wanted to discuss with me the possibility of supplementing my learning with classes at a nearby university. He encouraged me to meet with him to discuss the possibilities.

It was certainly a good start to our relationship. The only conversations I can remember with my previous principal were those where she told me what an awful person I was, and delivered punishment for my mistakes.

I think this year will be different...at least, I hope so.

Subscribe!

Like this entry? Subscribe to receive future updates by email: