On Being Thankful

Not only did I go see The Road this week, but I also went to see The Blind Side (Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw) on this past Monday too. In the film, a homeless African-Am. teen, "Big Mike," is taken in by a wealthy Memphis socialite and her family. By good luck and some string-pulling, he is enrolled in a private school, and it quickly becomes clear that he is sorely behind in his grade level and ability to read. However, when the teachers read the tests to him, he can answer the questions quite well. He ultimately pulls his 0.6 GPA up to a 2.5 in about a year and a half. Copy this link to watch the trailer: http://www.theblindsidemovie.com/

His predicament made me think of a student in one of my literature classes. I'll call him Arnez to protect his identity. Arnez sits in my class day after day with his head down on his desk and no apparent interest in what's going on at all. He refuses to take his tests and quizzes, and when he was allowed sit with his friends, he was disruptive and distracted the rest of the class. I've approached him often about sleeping in class, but it makes no difference—the head goes right back down. My mentor teacher believes that he is unable to read on-level, and as such, he is not able to do the work in class. In fact, the other day he asked me if he could go outside and sit on the steps and listen to his MP3 player (we are in a "portable classroom"[read trailer]).

The only time during the semester that Arnez has shown interest in what was going on was the day we analyzed children's books for the pattern of the heroic cycle. He and his partner had Horton Hears a Who, and I suppose he was able to participate because a child's storybook was something he could handle. His previous teachers have obviously passed him along because they were worried that if he failed their class, they would be blamed for being unable to reach him. But ultimately, he has been done an incalculable disservice. Here is a kid that would probably have a hard time filling out a job application, and no one has done anything about it.

So, near the end of The Blind Side, I started to think about Arnez. Even though he has frustrated me some during my time student teaching, I have had times when I really felt bad for him. After watching the movie, I felt this strong compulsion to ask my mentor teacher if I could work with Arnez to do this project on The Road, or even whether I might be allowed to work with him one-on-one in some capacity after my student teaching is over. I may not be allowed to do that, and it's possible Arnez might not even want my help, but I feel as though I need to at least ask.


We teachers have a social responsibility to lift up students like Arnez, but it can't be done well with the resources public schools currently have available to them. Not to necessarily jump on NCLB again, but under that Act low performing schools are penalized for poor achievement scores by cutting their funding. That is exactly the opposite of what needs to be done. Most low-achieving schools need MORE funding in order to institute the kind of support students and teachers need. This also speaks to the level of apathy (maybe that is too strong a word) that all Americans have toward making sure that the posterity of their community and country continues to thrive. While CEOs, sports stars, and bail-out money goes to those who need it least, our students and teachers suffer from lack of funding and support.

I suppose I ought to start a community organization that recruits people who want to give back to society. We should all care about supporting students and schools, and there have got to be people who want to give back somehow. At least, I hope that there are. Hmmm, something for me to think about as I reflect on this Thanksgiving Day about how thankful I am that I've had the advantages that I have had in my life.