Kids These Days

"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be and you help them become what they are capable of becoming." -- Goethe

Here's an article I wrote that will be featured in the Alton Telegraph in the beginning of June.  It won me a spot as one of the paper's guest columnists for the year:)

Kids These Days

            “Kids these days.”  I can’t even count how many times I hear this age-old phrase or a similar diatribe followed by an “Ugh!”  It might explain a lot to know that I teach for a living.  It might explain even more if I tell you that I teach TEENAGERS!  Yep- every day I go to work at Alton High School and try to get my students to care about the written word.  You can only imagine what that’s like on some days. 

            As soon as people know you work with children, they feel the need to tell you what’s wrong with them.  I wish our school district got a raise for each time I have this conversation.  Me: I teach 9^th and 10^th grade English at Alton High School.  Response: I’m so sorry.  They act as though I’ve just announced that I have a life-threatening illness.  I can understand why.  Our students have a bad reputation.  Every day when I see my dad, he makes the announcement, “One of your kids was in the paper today.”  Unfortunately, this is usually followed by why he or she was arrested.

            I must admit, I have been right there making irritating, guttural sounds in the back of my throat as my co-workers and I watch yet another poorly chosen outfit (or lack of an outfit really) walk past our doors or when a girl was so mad about her referral that she tried unsuccessfully to slam my door shut.  I have had the students who blow up because they have way too much going on at home to care about metaphors and similes.  I’ve had students fighting in my class because they thought it was the only way to save face.  I’ve been cussed at, had a desk thrown in my room, and been swung around by my arm.  That only covers one year of teaching!

So trust me when I say that I get why adults roll their eyes or cuss under their breaths at some of the things our beloved teenagers do these days.  However, the people that don’t get over that initial aggravation and remember that students are people too are the ones who don’t realize who the students in our city really are.  I have always been able to look past my students’ faults to see the scared but beautiful people they hide beneath.  However, this school year has truly affirmed my beliefs, so I’ll use it as example. 

The year started out pretty normally for me as I juggled the responsibilities of being a good teacher with those of being a good wife and mother.  I had been blessed with a group of pretty good classes and was ready to impart as much knowledge as they would let me.  Everything continued to go as planned until December 5.  This was the day I was diagnosed, at 27-years-old, with breast cancer.  My whole world changed that day.

Much to the surprise of my family, coworkers, and friends, the next day I went in to each of my classes, sat up on my table, and said, “I have something important I have to tell you.  You’re old enough to know the truth of why I’m going to be gone a lot and you’re mature enough to handle it.”  And so began my tale.  I told them everything I knew.

These kids, from whom so little is expected, gave more than anyone could imagine.  They exceeded even my extremely high expectations of them.  The first day, they were somber.  However, they calmly asked intelligent questions and told me I would be fine. 

            As the days went on, I relied on my students for hope, and they have yet to fail me.  Before my surgery, they pumped me up with their words.  They brought me cards and pink ribbon gifts.  They added me to prayer lists.  They stopped by just to check on me and sent hopeful, encouraging e-mails.  They took my illness on with strength and courage that I haven’t seen in many adults. 

            The day I returned to work, I felt as though my heart might literally burst.  These students that people APOLOGIZE to me because I have to teach were all wearing pink.  Staff and students alike had declared that on that particular Monday, we were Pinkbirds for the day.  I’ve had a few moments since this diagnosis that I have felt that I’m going to be a survivor hands-down.  That was one of those moments.  With an entire school behind me, how could I not come out on top?

            Now, as I go through chemotherapy treatments, my Pinkbirds are helping me “soar above the rest.”  They continue to pick my spirit up when I am down through poems, kind words, love, and unfaltering faith in me.  So the next time you start to roll your eyes at a teenager, remember their strength runs deep and, while they may not know as much as they think, they know a lot about love, kindness, and hope.