You Cannot Be Serious!

Two of my students said things to me today that had me channeling my inner John McEnroe. For those of you not familiar with the reference, McEnroe was a tennis icon of the 1970s and 80s who was known for his acumen in the doubles game, his phenomenal net play, being left-handed, and most of all, for possessing a temper with a bit of a short fuse. He made famous the phrase which I used for this post's title.

The first thing I heard from one of my students happened when I was talking with him about his ambitions in high school and his career aspirations. It wasn't a confrontational conversation -- I was talking with him because he had missed a couple of assignments and those consequences had shown up on his most recent test. On top of the fact that he's not the hardest worker in the class, this incident made me ask him about his motivation, what he wants to get out of high school, and what field he would like to work in someday.

His response?

"I'm gonna try to file for disability because of my ADHD and broken ribs."

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!

1) Filing for disability, as a career goal, is less than optimal.
2) ADHD is treatable.
3) Broken ribs heal.
4) What the heck?

The next comment came from another student in the same class. We were working on a partial area problem. Their task was to calculate the area of a square, and subtract the area of an inscribed circle in order to find the area of the remaining four corners. After we had already figured out that the square's area is 64 and the circle's area was 50.74, all that was left was to subtract one from the other. Here's how the next exchange went:

~~~~~~~~~
ME: Alright [Bob], we've got the two areas... now we need to subtract. What's 64 minus 50.74?

[BOB]: I dunno.

ME: You've got a big, beautiful, expensive calculator in front of you... just tap in 64 minus 50.74.

[BOB]: Man, that's too much.

ME: (stunned expression)
~~~~~~~~

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!

1) You learned to subtract by borrowing in 2nd and 3rd grade.
2) I know for a fact that your thumbs work because you use them to text message your friends like it's your job.
3) What the heck?

When I stepped back from these situations and screwed my head back onto my shoulders, I was able to see the situation more clearly. My task is two-fold:

1) Cast a vision
2) Raise my expectations

If we have failed our students in any area, and if we absolutely MUST succeed in any area, it is these two. I am as guilty of this crime as anyone else. Upon seeing a poor test score or assignment or performance from a student, my all-too-common instinct is to lower my expectations. Make it easier. Put the cookies on a lower shelf.

Instead of saying to them, "There you are. Make yourself at home right where you are. I'll see to it that it's okay for you to stay there," I should be yanking them upward, looking them in the eyes, and saying, "You're not there yet, but you can be. You're intelligent, gifted, and capable of succeeding. This is how you do it."

Instead of saying, "Make sure you lock down a job at Burger King, just in case you flunk out of community college," I should be taking them on college campus tours, saying, "When you're choosing a major, make sure you're aware of the careers held by professionals with those same majors. That will give you an idea of some common options you'll have after studying that field."

Those two comments by my students weren't the issue... they were just symptoms. But they brought into sharp focus the crying need for our students to sense a higher calling than squeezing out low C's on their report cards.