As I stated when I first began allowing my need for venting to end up on these pages I was, during the last 23 years of my working life, a sixth grade teacher. And, while my focus here has been a political bent based on my distaste for the republican party I have to give a few details of some of the feedback I’ve received from former students which gives an idea of why I have such a strong belief in the young people in America. Most of the students who were in my classes are now in ages ranging from 20 to 40. I’m going to share some examples of students who I know about and what they’ve accomplished.
This past week I was attending a celebration for the end of the school year where my wife was honored as a retiring teacher after 34 years in the classroom. She has been a first grade teacher over the past 7 years, but worked in just about every grade level from 1st grade through the middle school grades. For me, it’s always fun to be around teachers at the end of a school year because it’s time for them to take a deep breath and to soon begin preparing for the next year. Any time I hear someone badmouthing school teachers the hair on my back (there is none :o) stands on end. I worked in several occupations prior to teaching, including 7 years in a sawmill, and teaching was the most challenging, mostly due to mental exhaustion, of them all. I love teachers!
While I was at this celebration a young lady came up to me and said, “Did you teach at McLoughlin Middle School?” I, of course, had no choice but to answer, “Yes.” Her response was – in an excited tone, “I was in your 6th grade class!” I wasn’t able to place her (grown up) face to any students I had and I (embarrassingly) didn’t remember her name – she was in my classroom 20 years ago – in the second year after I stopped teaching in a “self contained” classroom. Fortunately for me, her memories of being in my classroom were quite positive. But, that’s not my point here.
She worked this past year in my wife’s school as an occupational therapist working with students who are still dealing with the after affects of the COVID pandemic. I asked her about her higher education and she shared with me she graduated from the University of Washington with both a four year Bachelor of Science degree and then she got a Masters degree in whatever the category was (I can’t remember) allowing her to work in the public schools helping low socioeconomic students manage the mental challenges of making it through High School. All I could say was “wow.”
But, there’s more. She told me she was part of a group of 2nd grade students who a local non-profit offered to pay for their higher education should they graduate from high school with a pre-determined grade point average. This offer was made to four groups of second graders (four successive years) at an elementary school (where my wife was teaching when I met her) that “fed” into the Middle School where I was teaching. I remember the students who got that “promise” and I often wondered whether it would ever really amount to helping kids from low income families actually attend college.
Well, this girl was the first example I’ve encountered proving that the people who made that offer over 20 years ago actually came through for the students. And, attending the University of Washington is not for the “faint of heart.” First, in my case, it was way too expensive. Secondly, it takes a high school GPA of at least 3.75 (on the 1 to 4 grading scale) to be admitted. Also, there are more than 40,000 students at, what we call here in the state of Washington, “The U.” It’s a world class University and it’s very challenging to succeed there. All I could think of was “Thank God, I didn’t ruin this girl’s education.”
We had a long conversation and she remembered more of what took place back then than I – although, she “triggered” some of the stuff I had forgotten. I was a teacher who focused on “relationship” with my students because MOST of them were two to three years behind grade level expectations when they arrived for the sixth grade and had lost their “love” of education. They needed someone they could trust encouraging them. Many of these students were in families where no one had graduated High School. Stories like this remind me how brilliant most of our young people are, no matter the environment they grow up in. And, as I thought about it, there are many more stories just as inspiring. I’ll share a couple more.
During my career I had many students who would be considered “Hispanic” or “Latina.” I never really understood the “category” into which they should be labeled, but, to me, they were simply part of my sixth grade classroom. One circumstance I distinctly remember was a young girl who was struggling during the year she spent in my classroom and I had numerous conversations with her outside the room. (Other teachers referred to the center area of our “Pod” as my psychology lab) She was in a “single mom” household and her Mom was very negative with her. When she was in High School she sent me a note reminding me I had compared her to a “flower which was about to bloom” in one of our conversations. Apparently, she really internalized the conversation and, when in High School, she became an Honor Student and a student leader.
After she graduated she sent me a note about what she was doing with her life. Surprisingly, to me, at 19 years old she was running for the school board in our city. Despite the fact she was not elected I was so proud of her. In my 60 years of observing the school system here I had NEVER heard of someone her age running for and campaigning for a seat at the school board. But, that wasn’t all she was doing.
She told me she was involved with a group organizing young people of Hispanic descent in order to help them get registered to vote. That really caused me to feel even more proud of her. One of the things I always emphasized to my students was the IMPORTANCE of them VOTING once the were old enough to be eligible. They would almost always ask me “who did you vote for” especially in the years there was a presidential election. I would always answer something like the following, “I won’t share that because I’m not encouraging to vote the way I would vote, your challenge is to educate yourself on the options and then make an informed decision.” (Obviously, if any of them have “wondered” onto this site, they know who I’m going to VOTE for in the next election)
I had another experience with a former student who used to sit in my classroom drawing the pictures of airplanes. For reasons I won’t document here, I had an extra level of “love” for this student, (OK his older brother died while he was in my classroom) I can’t remember the number of times I met with him outside the classroom (a conversation only for the two of us) encouraging him to apply himself because his grades were even close to his potential. I remember telling him “If you would apply yourself to your education maybe someday you could actually be designing airplanes.” In my mind, I thought that was far fetched, but I was trying to motivate him to apply himself to his own education.
Well, several years later – I had lost track of him – his family had moved to Southern California after his sixth grade school year – but toward the end of my time as a full time teacher he showed up at our school while we were in the meetings (I loathed) prior to the beginning of the school year and he took me to lunch. His parents had flown him up from California because he wanted to thank me for words which “stuck with him” and, of course, I couldn’t remember. But, here’s what’s significant about this: He graduated from High School with ABOVE a 4.0 grade average (at the time, I didn’t know that was possible) and, once we ended our lunch together he was flying back down to California and starting his college education. He had a “full ride” to the University of California at Davis in “Aeronautical Engineering.” He was still determined to design airplanes! To say the least, I was totally blown away and, of course, EXTREMELY proud of him.
My point here is there are young Americans all across this nation working to follow their dreams via some form of higher education. The examples are endless, I’m just sharing some of the ones I know of regarding students who were in my actual classroom. I also came across a young lady recently who was in the classroom right next to mine. My students were always at a level well below grade level and this young lady was in the “gifted” program on the other side of a removable partition between the two classrooms. I met her while attending a performance of my granddaughter who is an amazing dancer. Her daughter was one of the youngest children in the performance – which, by the way, was amazing.
When she saw me she reminded me of her name – which I did remember – and I had a short conversation with her about what was happening in her life. When she got into High School she was accepted into what’s called the “IB program.” (International Baccalaureate) As it turns out, this is one of the High School programs where a student can achieve HIGHER than a 4.0 grade average because several of the classes are eligible for college credit. This young lady graduated from college with a BA and a Master’s degree and now she’s actually a teacher in today’s IB program – at the same school. It just reminded me of another young American who is following his/her dreams and being a positive part of our society. I’ve been to presentations by students in this program and have been totally blown away. (That seems to keep happening)
I just wanted to write something a bit (OK a lot) more uplifting than the normal rants you might experience at this “blog.” (If that’s what it is) There are endless stories about the young people in America and I’m a strong advocate in “we the people” INVESTING in them. They are incredibly more sophisticated than those of us in the “old person” category were at the same age. And, of course, there are an un-calculable number of young people who are dealing with the affects of the pandemic. Who better to be part of the intervention for those suffering from issues like depression or anxiety than their peers who can identify with their challenges. Every time I meet a former student who is focused on helping others I get a warm feeling in my heart. They ARE our future!
Final Thought: Not all of the “success stories” I’ve encountered over the previous years are students who made it to/through college. There’s one in particular – a young Hispanic lady – I frequently run into as I do my shopping at Costco. (Most of what I purchase comes from Costco) She works part time at Costco and has a family of three young ones and a Husband she assures me treats her with the respect a mom deserves. It always lifts my spirits when I see her and she shares with her fellow workers “He was my sixth grade teacher.” I feel no less a sense of pride when I meet a former student who is being a responsible adult whether they made it through college or not. Keeping in mind, MOST of my students were in the “at risk” category, meaning something approaching 50% of these students were predicted to not graduate from High School. A large part of my focus in my real life is supporting “we the people” INVESTING in our future – America’s young people.
One more thing: I have many former students who, I believe, are “Dreamers.” That is, students who came to America when they were very young with parents who were “illegal.” (I hate that label) Many of them have gone to college, many have entered the military, and many are doing other positive things too numerous to mention here. I hope to live long enough to see “Dreamers” being offered a “pathway” to citizenship. Many of them know more about what SHOULD be routine for “citizens” and “citizenship” than those of us born here. They are also a positive part of America’s citizenry and SHOULD have the opportunity to “cement” their feeling of being an American into a formality.
During my last year in the classroom Donald Trump was elected president and I’ll never forget needing to allow my students (at that time I was teaching 7th graders) a couple class periods to discuss amongst themselves what that meant to them. The question I heard which I can’t get out of my mind was them asking each other “Are you legal?” Personally, I didn’t care, but it was obvious that, to them, it was of paramount importance. To me, it’s no wonder why their challenges are much greater than mine at the same age. And, again, I believe America’s young people are worth INVESTING in! They ARE our FUTURE! Stay tuned….