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My family and I are about to undergo one of those changes that all families with children go through. The dreaded school change. It is unavoidable regardless of where your kids go to school, be that public or private. At one point in your child’s school time, you’ve got to do it. It is part of the academic circle of life.
It always comes just when you finally get the system down. You know where to park, drop off, who to talk to, where the classrooms are, and basically where to go. It also seems as though as your kid’s work their way up the academic ladder it becomes more difficult to figure out the lay of the land. The schools get bigger and the rules more complicated. Just as the kid’s lessons increase in difficulty, so does what the parents must know in order to make the system work.
When I walk off the campus after promotion of my son’s Elementary School, Cloverly, I know that will be the last time I will be going there as a student’s parent who knows where to go on the campus. It will also be my last time walking off an elementary school. We’ve entered the big time, Junior High and High School. Luckily for me, the school my son is going to, Oak Avenue Middle School, is a school I have had a couple of years to get used to, since my daughter has been there for the last two years. But now she is moving up to Temple City High School so my new school lessons begin once again. The thought of me having a child in high school is such an alien concept, as I am sure it is to anyone who knew me in my youth.
While the kids are generally elated at the end of the school year, as I am sure the teachers are as well, it is always tinged with a little sadness, especially when you have to say goodbye to a good teacher or student. Saying good-bye to anyone you have come to know and liked is always hard to do.
That in mind, I began to think about the flip side of that coin and how difficult it must be for the teachers who teach the younger kids in the K through 8th grade range. Not only is it their job to set the stage for what must be taught in the future, they must always be diplomatic even when faced with uncomfortable situations.
I would never be able to cut it in their job. I have neither the temperament nor the patience to soft peddle the pluses and minuses of 30 kids at a time no less deal with their parents. I think back to when I helped coach some of the lower divisions of baseball and how I had to maintain my cool at all times. That was a struggle and that was with 12 kids for two hours at a time, two days a week and trying to teach a game, not 6 hours a day, five days a week teaching algebra and history.
Parent teacher conferences, student evaluations, and open house night, I would never be able to survive. As it is, so many times I have to bite my tongue when I’m asked questions, just because I know most people can’t handle the truth or because I don’t want to offend somebody. I would probably end up biting off my own tongue by the end of a parent teacher conference.
It’s like when you see a newborn baby for the first time and instead of an adorable bundle of joy in front of you, you find yourself gazing at Rosemary’s Baby. Although your first instinct is to run screaming from the room or start laughing uncontrollably, you reach down deep inside and come up with something that isn’t negative. My standard response in this situation is one of these phrases “Wow, now that’s a baby” or “you must be very proud.”
Most teachers have fertile imaginations so you have to know that in the back of their minds when they have to tell a parent that “little Johnny just needs to apply himself” they are actually thinking something completely different. Maybe something along the lines of “I’m amazed little Johnny’s brain generates enough power to make his legs move to get him to class” or “ Are you sure those are vitamins you are giving him every morning and not stupid pills?”
While they may secretly think it, they would never say it out loud, because they love what they do and want to continue doing it. Thank God they do love it because they are a rare breed and we, especially here in Temple City, need to thank our lucky stars that we have been blessed with so many great teachers.
So thank you teachers at Cloverly for making our experience there a pleasant one and for helping mold the minds of our children. We will miss you. Thank you also to the Oak teachers who have helped get Rachel ready for High School and now will have Alex.
The Shrub Speaks: “I am absolutely convinced with time we'll find out that they did have a weapons program.” Washington, D.C., Jun. 9, 2003
Bd’s response – Didn’t we go to war because you knew for sure, for certain, that they had weapons of mass destruction?
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