by Jane Morris
e) In written language, Bob requires assistance with generating ideas, and organizing, sequencing, and prioritizing his ideas for essays and writing assignments.
f) Re-teaching, in which Bob must teach new information to someone else, will be a useful tool for reinforcing Bob’s knowledge.
g) School personnel should read the following book in order to learn to accommodate executive dysfunction and teaching executive functioning skills: Executive Skills in Children and Adolescents: A Practical Guide to Assessment and Intervention, by Peg Dawson and Richard Guare (2004, The Guilford Press).
No one responded to this email and Bob failed all of his classes. At the end of the summer, I received the following email:
From: Bob’s mom
To: Bob’s English teacher
Subject: Bob’s English grade
Hi,
This is Bob’s mom. I was wondering if you could pass Bob for the previous year. We just got his schedule for next year, and see that he will have to repeat your class. His father and I feel that this will be detrimental to Bob’s self-esteem. We believe he has gained a great amount of knowledge from being present in your class but is unable to provide evidence of that knowledge. Please consider passing him. He is very bright and we wouldn’t want his English grade to ruin his confidence.
Thank you,
Bob’s mom
I thought about answering this email by explaining that her argument was flawed because Bob was rarely present in class, but instead I ignored it and awaited the interesting stories about Bob that would continue to be discussed in the office the following year.
Eventually, Bob just stopped coming to school altogether and never graduated. I ran into his mother a few years later and she happily told me that he was working for a very successful internet start-up, making “well over six figures!” I really wanted to be happy for Bob, but the fact that he was making three times as much money as me, without even a high school diploma, at the age of 20… Yeah I was admittedly a bit bitter. Fuck Bob.
LOW SELF-ESTEEM
Gus wasn’t a very conspicuous student. He sat in the back of the classroom, did his work, and was pretty quiet. One day, towards the end of the semester, a stinky smoke bomb was lit near my classroom. No one had any information about who did it. Soon after, I saw a flicker of light coming from the back of my room. I tried to ignore it, but then I realized it was a flame. I walked over and saw Gus flicking a lighter. He did not stop when I approached him. I told him to give me the lighter. He asked when he would get it back. I said never. He was mad. I wrote him up. Nothing happened.
Naturally, after this incident I was wary of Gus. And after this incident, Gus displayed some rather strange behavior. He started to write very bizarre essays, which had nothing to do with the assigned topic. He thought his essays were hilarious. He began to fail the class because of this. I took Gus aside and explained that if he did this type of writing on his final exam, he would undoubtedly fail. He just shrugged his shoulders. I contacted the school psychologist. Nothing happened.
During his final exam, Gus was laughing hysterically as he wrote his essay and I knew what was coming. His essay included the following lines (keep in mind that this essay was supposed to be about the nature of success), “I kill people all the time. Out on the street, I see an enemy torturing a poor child with a stun gun, so I shoot him in the head. Another example of when I killed a man was just last week as I was walking home from the psycho ward. After finally being released, I began running in the middle of the road drinking beer and shooting my shotgun at people. I then stopped to admire the police as they shot a man for armed robbery.”
He handed this in with plenty of time to spare and sat at his desk with a huge smile on his face. I read his essay in horror. The essay prompt asked the students to form an argument based on non-fiction articles from the test itself. Nowhere did it say to include personal, fictional and/or psychotic examples. I took Gus into the hallway. This is what transpired:
ME: Gus, I am very worried about you. Are you aware that if you hand this in, you will get a zero?
GUS: Yes.
ME: Okay, then why did you write it?
GUS: Because it’s hilarious.
ME: Okay. But I think that you should sit down and write another essay. You still have time.
GUS: No. I like this essay.
ME: Okay, as long as you’re aware that you will fail. You did not address the prompt at all. I’m not even the one who will grade it, and the teachers who do will be using a very specific rubric. If you don’t attempt to answer the given question, you will get a zero.
GUS: (Laughing) Okay.
A few days later, we all had to evacuate the building and stand in the snow for over an hour because someone had set the boy’s bathroom on fire. There was no footage of who set the fire from the security cameras because there was too much smoke and there weren’t any witnesses. But an administrator remembered my write-up about a boy playing with a lighter and had the wisdom to call him into her office. He immediately admitted that he had set the fire. In fact, he was quite proud of it. When asked for an explanation he said, “I just really like to light stuff on fire. I like to watch things burn.” It was clear that we needed to call Gus’s parents in for a meeting about their son’s psychological issues. But first, Gus needed to be arrested.
The cops went to Gus’s house and arrested him. He spent the night in jail. His parents came in for a meeting with the school administrators and psychologists a few days later. You would think that they would be disturbed by their son’s behavior, and concerned with his psychological well-being, right? Well, what Gus’s parents were more concerned with was his failing grade on his English final. According to them, Gus had always been insecure about his writing and he came home very excited after the exam. He said that I read his essay and told him it was a real winner, and that he would definitely receive an A. Then when he found out that he failed he felt betrayed, and his self-esteem suffered. According to them, this is why he set the school on fire.
Believe it or not, we actually had to take this seriously. In any other real-world setting, anyone would say to these parents, “Are you fucking kidding me? Your kid set the school on fire because of low self-esteem? Get the fuck outta here!” But we have to be professional and civil. So it was explained to Gus’s parents that Gus’s version of the story was false. He was told that he would fail with the essay he had written, and was even given a chance to re-write it. They didn’t believe us; they chose instead to believe their arsonist son.
Gus’s parents requested to see a copy of Gus’s essay with the grading rubric. Another conference was scheduled specifically for this reason. His parents argued that the essay deserved at least a B according to the rubric we used. They did not mention the fire Gus had set or the violent and disturbing nature of the essay he wrote. According to them, Gus earned at least a B on his English final. They refused to discuss the arson until this was attended to. We all held fast to the grade the essay had originally received and tried to get them to focus on the fire. We even showed them pictures of the damage Gus had caused. They tried to ignore us and said they would be going to the school board with their grade change request. We explained that Gus was about to be expelled from school for arson. Their response was that they were getting a lawyer to fight that too, since it was our (my) fault (you know, the whole low self-esteem thing).
Next I received an email from a “pupil personnel worker.”
From: Pupil Personnel Worker
To: English Teacher
Cc: Other important people
Subject: Student concern
Hello. I have just spoken to Gus’s parents about the fire setting incident last week. Needless to say, they are very upset with the whole situation.
I read the post in the communication log about the final exam essay. Parents say they spoke to you about the essay. They said the situation was explained as to why he responded the way he did and that you agreed to
change his grade to an A (their words). Please put a copy of the essay in my mailbox located in the main office.
I don't see documentation regarding the parent conference involving the "explanation" and the grade change. Would you please document the contact? I need to be able to report the whole incident because the parents plan to share the situation at the investigative hearing.
Thanks,
Pupil Personnel Worker
Gus’s parents lied. Here is the answer that my supervisor gave for me:
From: English Teacher’s Supervisor
To: Pupil Personnel Worker
Cc: Other important people
Subject: Re: Student concern
Dear Pupil Personnel Worker,
Neither Gus’s teacher nor I agreed to change Gus’s grade. In fact, I told the parents that I would consult with my district supervisor regarding the essay and its content. In that conversation with the district supervisor, he noted several points (similar to the ones I attempted to convey to Gus’s parents):
·The essay does not present itself seriously due to the overtly fabricated material. [The parents, however, argued that Gus was very serious and bragged about the good job he had done.]
·The thinking is weak and not representative of an honors student.
·The essay does not demonstrate mastery of thinking and does not engage in a serious way with the task.
·The essay engages only in a crude manner, using fabricated material that is violent and inappropriate.
All that said, the issue comes down to whether the student gets a “0” because most of the content is fabricated, which renders the essay irrelevant; or does he get a score point of an “F” because he does make some attempt to answer the question, even if the detail is erroneous, and he demonstrates some mastery of writing. A score of “F” would not change his course grade overall.
Gus’s dad was insistent that the essay was an excellent work of fiction and that it be given an A. I made it clear that I understood why it received a “0” but would seek my supervisor’s input. My supervisor agreed that it is a gray area, and he could see the argument for either a “0” due to the irrelevant examples, or an “F” because of the few existing, though weak examples. I am reluctant to change the grade because it undermines the process that an independent body of teachers used to assign a grade to the paper. They determined that the response was irrelevant. I would also like to add that I was very uncomfortable at several points during the conversation with Gus’s parents. It seems that they were in denial about the real problem. Gus is obviously very bright. However, he chose to use some rather graphic and disturbing images in his essay, images that he made up, which renders them even more troubling. Gus’s dad continued to make the point that Gus was crushed to learn that he had earned a “0” but Gus had a mocking attitude all along. His parents make a passionate plea, but their pleas seem to belie all of the evidence that their son is leaving.
Please contact me if you have any further questions regarding this troubling matter.
Thanks,
English Department Supervisor
Gus was “on leave” until his hearing with the school board was finished. The school board decided to expel him. Gus’s parents tried to fight this with a lawyer, but when they saw the fight wasn’t going anywhere, they withdrew him from school before he could be expelled and enrolled him in an alternative school. The next semester when I got my class roster I was shocked to see Gus’s name on it. That’s right- Gus was allowed back to school. I was expected to teach Gus once again, as though nothing had happened.
For once, instead of just accepting it, I decided to fight. I spoke to his counselor, who agreed that it would not be in the best interest of either of us to be placed together again. There were many other teachers who did not know Gus’s history and he could have a fresh start. The counselor just wanted to give
Gus’s mom a call to let her know that his schedule was being switched around. Clearly she would be happy about the switch, given the fact that I caused such low self-esteem for her son last year (bad enough to turn him into an arsonist!) Well, common sense took a backseat for this one.
Gus’s mom argued with the counselor. The counselor tried to remain firm, but I could see she was breaking under the pressure of the mother’s contentions. She handed the phone to me and whispered, “She wants to speak with you.” I took the phone and said hello. She merely responded with a cold, “Hi.” Then there was silence, for an awkward while. So I spoke.
“As you’ve heard, I think it would be in everyone’s best interest if Gus and I avoided working together again, given our history.” There was a long pause and an even longer sigh. “I don’t agree,” the mother said.
“Okay,” I responded. “I just feel that, given our history, any issues that may come up in the future, regarding grades for example, might bring up the past. And I don’t think that would be healthy for Gus.” (Basically I was trying to say that I didn’t want to be blamed for giving Gus a low grade and causing more blows to his self-esteem because of what he did the year before.) “Yeah I see what you’re saying,” she replied. “But I just feel that removing him from your class, when he has already seen your name on his schedule will be really bad for him right now. He’ll feel rejected. Plus, he has a friend in your class. And he doesn’t have a lot of friends.” (Gee, I wonder why…) I continued to calmly state my argument and she continued to angrily disagree with me. Finally, I said I would talk to my supervisor about it and see what we could work out. I just wanted to get off the phone with her because she was sucking my soul out through my ear.
The chair of my department took my side. “It’s not up to the mother where the kid is placed. There are plenty of other teachers and there is no reason for him to have you again.” Thank God someone had common sense. But first, she needed to get the schedule change cleared with the Ass. Principal. A week went by and I heard nothing. I continued to have Gus in my class, and he wasn’t any more pleasant than before. Finally, I went to see the Ass. Principal myself. I rehashed the entire scenario and waited for her reply. Her answer was that she agreed with Gus’s mother. I felt like I was losing my mind. I took a deep breath and said, “I never question any decisions of the administration. But in this case, this is a matter of safety and comfort. As a teacher, don’t I deserve to be comfortable in my own classroom?”
She replied, “Of course you do. But did Gus threaten you directly?”
“No, but he played with a lighter in my class, then set the building on fire, and his parents blamed me!”
“But did he threaten you directly?”
“Did he threaten my life? No…”
“Then you really don’t have a right to say that you don’t feel safe with him in your classroom.”
I tried to argue a bit more and she said she would go to the principal for the final decision. I received an email a few days later saying that the principal also agreed with Gus’s mother and that was that.
But the fun didn’t end there. From day one of my second year with Gus, he was difficult and practically screaming for attention. First he tried writing inappropriate things in his classwork. Then he constantly interrupted me while I spoke. When that didn’t get a reaction, he started cursing at other students. Finally, I decided to take a more honest approach and I asked Gus to stay after class for a talk. I told him exactly how I felt. I said that I never got an explanation as to why he set the school on fire the year before and explained that I felt hurt that he allowed his parents to blame me for his actions. He agreed and seemed to understand how I felt. I asked why he did what he did and he said that he did not remember because he had blacked out. He shared many alarming things about his mental health, including the large amount of psychiatric medication that he was on and the fact that he never took them regularly (which can be very dangerous). He also explained that he often has the urge to act violently towards himself or others, has outbursts of violence (like setting things on fire or beating pe
ople up) and then blacks out. When he wakes up, he said, he is usually in the middle of the woods near his house or in the gutter with no recollection of what had happened. I told him that this was very upsetting information and I urged him to speak to the school psychologist. He said he would and apologized, genuinely, for his behavior.
Although Gus seemed to tell me that information in confidence, I knew I was entering an uncomfortable gray area that no teacher ever wants to be in. I determined that what Gus had told me was distressing enough to contact the administration about. Here we go again, I thought to myself as I walked to the Ass. Principal’s office to meet with Gus’s counselor and the school psychologist. I told them everything that he told me, including his alarming comments about having violent tendencies and blackouts. The school psychologist said she would speak to his mother about taking him to a psychiatric center. She did speak to the mother and the mother said that the psychologist whom they recently brought him to determined that he was fine and she ended the discussion there.
Next, Gus started showing up to class stoned out of his mind. Not only did he have bright red eyes, he stunk like pot and he couldn’t keep his head off of the desk. I asked to speak with him and he admitted, although in confidence, that he had been smoking pot in school every day and drinking heavily on the weekends. I explained my worries about his mixing drugs and alcohol with prescriptions, especially given his violent tendencies. He just shrugged and left the room. Again, I was in an uncomfortable position. I wanted Gus to be able to confide things in me, but I couldn’t let this information go without informing the administration. I sent out the following email: