The system, like the kids, is brutal ...
and negligent ... too...
For a long time he is in my mind.
I
always wanted to write about him, and then I decided not to… But yesterday I was watching a documentary about
medicine and research and, intermittently,
it focussed on AIDS…All night long it stayed with me…I was troubled and the memory
of my student from few decades ago visited me…Stayed with me and debated with
me… to write or not to write…
In
the morning I decided to introduce him to you… For a long time I was dealing with adults …
Teaching and discussing topics and life with adults is different than teaching
and discussing life with teens… I was fed up with adults and their funny
expectations…So I decided to take a teaching position in a high school…But
since I was detached from teens for a long time…I wanted to start teaching from
the lower grades and then we’ll see…
Grade 9s are
just kids…It was a very challenging adjustment…But it was good… And one of the
students stood out among the group and ever since I remember him…
On a Monday
the students were discussing their weekend activities… Students were bragging
about things that they did and things that they wanted to do… This one student
was quiet…did not participate in the bragging competition…and then one asked… “What
did you do on the weekend…?” He answered: “ We attended an opera on Saturday and
Sunday afternoon we went to the theater…and had family dinner at the restaurant…nearby…
“ I was very attentive…This was new to me…I did not expect that young teens
will go to opera and live theater… I was very much interested … When the
student who asked the question interjected… “What is opera…?” The rest is not interesting…They talked and
they explained what operas are…They mocked the kid who attended it…and he took
it silently…
Scene from Turandot...
Later, at
lunch, I asked him what was the opera about…and we became “friends”…I liked the
kid and I always enjoyed his presence in the classroom… He was very active in
the school and helped in all the committees…though he was not athletic and did
not participate in sport oriented events…
The Gym
people, teachers and students alike, made fun of him and his friends… As they
did fun of academics and opera and theater…, For the Gyp people hockey and
football was the entire universe… Students who were academically oriented or
interested in the arts and music did not interest them…In fact those students
were a sub-species… and not worth having around…
I started to teach Calculus...
The year
after…The department wanted me to teach the senior classes… Grade 13 Calculus…
I did not refuse… it was somewhere between adults and younger teens and I felt
more comfortable…
But too bad ...
These Gym people were in an “academic”
institution and they had to deal with students like him and teachers like me…
They did not like it and barely tolerated us…
Few years
passed…and it was his graduating year… I noticed that he did not have classes
in the 2nd period… he said he had spare… I urged him to join my
calculus class where all his friends were… he taught about it for a second and
agreed… But, I had noticed a change in his attitude… He was very popular…as
before but very aloof and conscience of the people around him… He used to hug
people jovially…But stopped that and like a grown up acquired the habit of
handshakes…
At the time the fist-bump was not initiated… I was surprised…but I did inquire it stayed
with me…when in the hallway he avoided to hug friends or teachers… I became
aware of the fact…
Hug for friendship...and for peace...
There was an
incident that bothered me… The student was to attending school for few days… I
inquired the reason…I phoned his home…everyone was evasive… I asked the school
chaplain, he knew everything, about the reason… He whispered in my ear that the
student came to school few days ago with a tongue-ring… and the admin asked him
to take it off… he did not and is staying home for now… I did not make much of
it… I though it will be school policy not to wear jewelry at the school… I
was naive and did not relate tongue-rings to and social behaviour…!
At the prom…The
Chaplain, a good friend of mine, laughed away when he took of his shirt and hit
the dance floor… at one point my Grade 13 Calculus students dragged me to the
dance floor too… I remained there encircled by the teens for few moments… They trapped
me and why not…I let them have fun…on my clumsy movements …!
They had fun….I
had fun too…
Senior having fun at the prom...
After
graduation he visited me… he had a tongue-ring… I noticed and he showed it to
me proudly…he was more at ease with himself…and he hugged me too…
Later that
day, I saw him again at the Chapel…I told the Chaplain…”He has a tongue-ring”…
and I asked him to show it to us…He stuck his tongue to us with a mischief…
But he did
not visit the Gym people and the not pass from the admin offices…
After
graduating from university…he traveled to the Asia…to Thailand and Singapore…
He had a good job…with a designer-fashion company… and I lost contact of him…
I don’t know
what happened to him…
The
education system failed him… The Chaplain and I embraced him… I did not know
his exact difficulties and problems…I had a sense of it… I respected him… he
was a good kid…jovial and smart…he was on the honour list always… I liked him…and
now I do not know what happened to him… Young kids are gossipy and brutal in
that at times… The system is “holier-than-thou” rubbish…Society is intolerant
for diversity… and hypothetical most of the time…
The
educational system failed him… and I feel that I was partly responsible for it
too…
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