Feeling Philosophical - Not Bike Related

[Veronica]

I've been thinking a lot this weekend about this student I have. He came to my class in March. He has a history of missing lots of school days, since kindergarten. He's missed about 5 weeks of school since he came to me. So many days that we actually dropped him from our records because we couldn't get a response from anyone about where he was. The family went to Nevada and had car trouble.

We re-enrolled him. I went to my principal and said I wanted to retain him. He doesn't have the neccessary skills for 6th grade. When he is in school, he daydreams, doesn't complete assignments, doesn't follow directions. He's going to keep falling further behind. He's not going to pass the high school exit exam. She said no to the retention.

He shows up in my class on Friday. The kids have computers from 8:30 - 9:30, so I don't see him for an hour. At 9:40 he says he doesn't feel well, he wants to go home. He's just come back from missing three weeks of school.

I ask him if he really needs to go home. I tell him that he has missed so much school I have some real concerns about 6th grade. My principal gives me a hard time for talking to him about this in front of the rest of the class. I have 29 other students - private conversations are impossible. She says he's a victim and just needs love and compassion.

I agree he is a victim. But I think he needs more than TLC. He needs to know what reality is and that he does have choices. His family doesn't value education. But that doesn't mean he doesn't have to. There is no Victim box on the high school exit exam to check. He's not going to get a diploma if he doesn't change. I don't want to enable this kid to stay mired in the welfare system, with no hope of getting out. I don't want to just comfort him. The real world isn't going to do that.

Now to the philosophy part.

The past - you can't change it. You can only learn from it and use it to affect your decisions in the present.

The present - it's an ever changing, slippery slope, kind of like mountain biking down a gnarly 20+% grade, or surfing.

The future - the only thing you really can affect with the decisions you make in the present.

Time to go to work I guess. I'm hoping I make good decisions.

V.