Pushing

One of my former students is in trouble. Big legal trouble. He's only 13.

This is a kid with many remarkable talents. He's a genuinely gifted athlete, he has eye catching artistic talent, he went from not knowing how to read at all in 3rd grade to being at grade level by the end of sixth grade, he's unusually emotionally deep and reflective... I have to ask: What went wrong? How did this kid with so much momentum, with such a level head on his shoulders, go so far off track so fast?

What many people don't understand about being a teacher is that it's not just about teaching, especially when you teach in schools like mine where nearly all of the kids come from homes where money is tight and the average parent only reached as high as the 3rd grade in Mexico. If all I had to do for my job was teach the information in California's content standards, my life might be relatively carefree.

But in practice, in addition to having to teach all the information in California's content standards, I have to push. I push my students to get their homework done. I push my students to go to college. I push my students to resist the lure of gangs and drugs that's so omnipresent in our neighborhood. I push my students to figure out what they were born to do to help make our country and world a safer, more equitable place. I push them to believe their lives are too valuable to waste on hurting people or on just getting by. I push them to change their definition of an "American" so it's not synonymous with "white" in their minds anymore. I push them to understand their own backgrounds, their own family histories. I push them to value being bilingual. I push them to push themselves.

Of course, for most kids, I'm not the only one pushing. Their parents push, and usually they themselves push. But society pushes back, TV pushes back, gangs push back, "friends" push back, some family members push back. Sometimes parents don't push at all. And so I dig in my heels and push and push and push.

I'm only in my 4th year of teaching. My first class is about to graduate from 8th grade and move on to high school. When I had them three years ago, they were all excited about learning, excited about the possibilities their future might hold. On the last day of school that year, one of my students made a comment that I'll never forget. He said, "I had a dream last night. I dreamed that it was twenty years from now, and our whole class was back together for a reunion, and it was really cool because all of our dreams had come true. We all became what we wanted to be."

But if California's education statistics hold true to form, well over half of my former students will drop out. Of those that don't, few will graduate from a university. Pushing's not enough.