Ah, the students of Rockland High

Students are funny things. I will elaborate…sometimes, you will be sitting in a classroom with some students and you will be entirely accepted into conversations. It is a strange experience, but they ask questions and you answer them, the next thing you know, they talk to you like a human, without saying, “um…Mr…Um…can I go to the bathroom?” Therefore, they start to consider you to be a real person and stop treating you like the guy who is out to bust them.

Other times, students think you are the antichrist and will go out of their way to make you feel like that guy. They’ll give you attitude, ignore you or throw the look of death your way. You know the look: the one says you must be the one that knocked up their mom or older sister, punched them in the gut and ran for your life to avoid child support. That too is a strange situation. You see, this happens when students feel that you are trying to bust them, OR they think you are going to write them up if they look at you funny or they are just plain antisocial.

Today was a strange day, in that the kids were not talking to me, which is normal, but it was on the same day that I was being a good guy. Let them do whatever they wanted, you know? I let them play cards and students avoided me like the plague. “Can I go to my locker (without a pass)?” SURE! This was how hard ass I was today. Still, I was the school day equivalent of Ebola.

However, I have had my glimmers of goodness known as PCC students. I love PCC kids at school. They may not be the only good kids, but I have yet to meet one that will drop f-bombs in the classroom, just walk out, shout across the room, or do something stupid to get in trouble. These kids always say hello and goodbye to me. It may not mean anything, in fact, they probably say it just to be nice, but that is something too. The PCC program may not make the kids good, but that at least gives me a reason to go back every summer; to know that there are kids like these…somewhere.

Project Contemporary Competitiveness is a summer program I work at. Kids know PCC as the “happiest place on Earth.” And it really is too. The kids are amazing. The proctors are always up and ready to give these kids the best summer or two of their lives. I have worked there for 4 years and will be returning for my fifth and probably final summer this upcoming June.

It is a sad thing for me to think about right now; not going back, that is. It has been a stable thought in my head since I was a student myself. I wait all school year, just to be able to go back in the summer and see the kids that return and see the proctors that I return and meet all the new people. Every year I get a little bit older and a little better at my job, and I get more responsibility and I grow as a person and as a teacher. I don’t teach there, but I deal with students, I work with behavioral problems, and I pass on what I know to them. Every year one or two students make the program for me. I miss them terribly when I go. Sometimes, after the program is over, some students find my screen name and write me updates to their lives. They remember me, and I appreciate the program all the more.

Every time I sub at Rockland, I see at least 5 or 6 students I had at PCC, some I was close to and others I just remember, and some I don’t remember but they remember me. They are all good kids and I love to see them in classes I sub. I know they will be respectful and help me out. And sometimes, I need that assurance to get me through classes. I don’t know how the kids were in school prior to this year or in the prior class. I do know that I can count on them every time.

PCC may not change these kids at all, and I may not change them at all. In fact, many of them are the way they are before I meet them, long after PCC is gone forever. Nevertheless, I truly believe that the program can make people better, and can make high school a little more bearable. If you know there are people like the ones you met at PCC out there, you take more risks, try more things and work on being a better person yourself. It worked for me.

I hope wherever I end up teaching, there is a program like PCC to work with. I can’t imagine going the rest of my life without knowing that there are still kids singing American Pie, dancing every Thursday night and begging their proctors for just one more minute with the lights on so they can play 4-Square in their rooms. Without this assurance, I am almost certain that I will not be a very effective teacher in classrooms of today.

I think the reason for my fear of being ineffective as a teacher stems from students I see daily who make me want to vomit every 5th minute of every period. There are many kinds of these vomit-inducing student at good old RHS and here are a few and a description of each.

Alternateens:
These are students who do not want to be involved in anything considered “mainstream.” In fact, they hate the normal folks so much that they all do the same thing to avoid being like them, ironically. They all sit there quietly in a corner of class with they’re hair all long and/ or dyed and swear to show they know big words. They wear black everything, mascara (guys too), chains, and trench coats made to be worn over business attire. Girls wear a lot of fishnet things and tend to dye their hair black. Guys tend to wear band t-shirts or ones that claim the wearer hears voices. They never look you in the eye unless you have told them they are in trouble. Then and only then are you entirely assured that they know how creepy they look, because they try to use it to sketch you out and into submission. However, knowing Alternateens, is the key to their downfall. Most of these students are big wussies and want nothing more than to be left alone. Any confrontation will dissolve their outer stoicism, and show you the kicked puppy that is their core.

Emokids:
These students are addicted to emo-music, short for emotional. These are typically skinny little boys and larger girls. Now I’m not saying all people who like emo are emokids, just that when kids who like emo let it go to their heads, they become these things. I hate emokids, and I hate them most in class. They are always complaining about one thing or another and I’ve never seen so much eye rolling from white boys. The guys (barely) will wear skin-tight jeans that can only be bought in states beginning with K and ending with tucky due to their sperm-reducing tendencies and Kentucky’s plan to drop pregnancies within families. The gals are a harder bread to spot, but they are normally accompanied by an emoboy (sorta). They tend to think everyone is out to get them and make them cut their hair and dump their boyfriend or girlfriend (yeah right). I’ve come to the conclusion that the emo-music is deteriorating their reality as it is always whining about lost loves, and bad days at school or work and how everyone is Capulet, they are Montagues with no one left on their side. I would just like for them to come to grips with reality and stop the whining. To deal with them…I let them leave when they ask; saves me from kicking them out because they are worthless lay-abouts.

Convicted Felons:
That’s right everyone. I have subbed for convicted felons. I didn’t know it at the time, but it sure does explain a lot. For instance, why the two of them did not care when I was telling them to calm down…after all, I didn’t have a GUN at the time. Or, maybe it could explain why the word “faggot” was thrown around so much. Perhaps too much time in a cell with Bubba? Who knows. What I know is, they better have been joking about that slashing my tires thing.

Aside from these folks, I get along fine with the rest. Students are students in any school I imagine and there is very little you can do to change them.


Until I think of more kids who I love or who piss me off…