Students in impoverished school districts usually settle for new teachers who look for the first chance to move to a better school, or they settle for long-term and day-to-day substitute teachers.
When one teacher shows up to inspire them, they have a sense of hope. Finally, an adult cares enough to see them through the school year and provide them an education.
These assumptions are all wrong.
No one teacher can make or break a person's education. Only the student can do that.
The one thing that every student needs to learn is that learning is innate, not something that must be accorded to them from someone else.
What do you want to learn? Students have some intuition. Students know just as well when their choices are illegal or immoral. Human intuition, despite the mind-rage that dominates universities and educational facilities, cannot wipe away conscience.
I do believe that students must face some fundamental realities, and they can be broached without violating church-and-state statutes:
DEATH -- we are all going to die. What does that mean to you? Does that scare you? Does that frighten you? Or do you see it as a challenge to overcome, or a superstition to avoid?
PAIN -- why do we suffer pain? Is it something that teaches us, is it something to avoided? Is it something that we can mitigate or alleviate in our lives? And should we?
MORALITY (Right and Wrong) -- is there such a criteria? How do we know it? Where should we find out about it if we are unsure? What have your parents taught you? What has the media taught you? How do your friends behave? Imagine a world where right and wrong had no place. What kind of a world would that be? Would you want to live in it?
WORK -- we all have a calling, we all have a purpose. What drive you? What would you be doing now if you knew that you could not fail? Do not concentrate on what you would achieve or get after following whatever pursuit entices it. If you cannot think of anything, at least ponder those activities that you have enjoyed doing in the past. When you have narrowed down those interest, start investing your time and energy to pursuing those interests and perfecting your knowledge and skills in that field. Once you know what you want to do, how can you use your gifts and talents to help others achieve who they are and what they want to do in life?
These questions, these inquiries, can do much more for students than one mentor, one adult who may come or go in the life of an individual. Indeed, we are all grateful for the teachers who made an impact in our lives, yet we also agree that we would not want them staying around forever, still telling us what to do, stilling modeling us only limited options, when for every human being, the sky can be the limit!
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