goals

One of the students I work with is the most frustrating child I’ve ever had to deal with. He is in fifth grade and is EXTREMELY lazy. For 45 minutes a day I help him with his reading and writing, which is like pulling teeth, for he really couldn’t care less. For his latest writing assignment I tried to help him correct the spelling of a few words, “number”, “still”, “write”, but he insisted he didn’t have to spell correctly (nubr, sil, and rieat would be just fine). I tried my little “reading is important” speech that I use quite often, which begins with my asking the child what he wants to be when he grows up (from there I basically go into how you can’t be a such-and-such if you can’t read). But this boy responded, “My mom said I can’t get a job when I grow up because then the government won’t give us the money we get now.” Good Grief!

I mentioned the conversation to another aide and she had a story that topped mine. The second-grade teacher asked the children what they’d like to be when they grow up. One little boy said, “I want to be one of those bank guys.” The teacher said, “You mean a teller?” “No, one of those guys that has a gun.” “Oh, you mean the guard.” “No, not a guard, I wanna be the guy that wears a mask.” The teacher ventured to ask, “Do you mean a robber?” “Yea, yea, that’s it. I wanna be a bank robber.”

That night at supper I told my boys about it. Jesse said, “Well, at least he has goals.” Yea, and if you’re in prison, the government takes care of you…