Paper or plastic?

This recession can’t be denied: horror stories of mass layoffs, homes being lost, and make shift “tent cities” popping up. The depletion of hope inverted with an increasing every-man-for-himself mentality is painting our lives with cynicism. Although there isn’t any shortage of students who need education, the economy is hitting my school hard.

At a curriculum planning meeting, a teacher named Mrs. B offered me words of advice when I expressed how increasingly unmotivated my students are. Those words were, “Face it, these kids are the ones who are going to be bagging your future children’s groceries.” Before you mark her forehead with a bulls eye for why our education system is so screwed up, consider that the 7th grade California standardized test consists of INSTRUCTION MANUALS for vcrs and radios. These manuals are targeting the “comprehension of informational material” but why is it that none of those multiple choice questions require our kids to evaluate, judge, or create something? Why are these tests geared towards measuring how good of an instruction following employees our students will be as opposed to problem solving bosses?

Mrs. B is a smart, realistic teacher who has taught in the official ghetto for ten years. During the 90s she had one student who took a liking to her, and offer her Doc Martins shoes stolen during the LA riots. She’s been through the mill and is still here coordinating the ESL program, doing after school tutoring, and helping me do a research project with my students. Thankfully, her words do not match her actions.

But these are tough times. When you consider the actual number of people who share my student’s ethnicities, economic backgrounds, and home location, and make it to the top paying jobs, it’s depressing low. And so it feels silly having my students draw comic strips depicting a story when there are grim realities to face. But it is only silly hope that could help these kids beat the sad statistic awaiting them. And it is only hope that could prevent me from feeling like an Albertsons staff member training a new batch.