Member-only story
"My Daughter Has Good Grades. Why Does She Need to Go to School?"
A story of truancy and the degradation of our social contract.
I had a student, a young girl, who was late to class one day. She was a nice kid. Good student. Decent grades. Polevaulted for the track team, and was a cheerleader during football season.
She walked into my class with a hastily written note from the office in one hand and a large iced coffee from Dunkin' in the other. I was in the front of the room, starting an activity. She placed the note on my desk and took her seat.
The activity transitioned into some group work. Her friends took her into their group and began work, business as usual. As with most group work, conversations can easily veer away from the task at hand towards other, less productive conversations. I would never claim to intentionally try to overhear my students' conversations, but classrooms are small, and who doesn't love a little bit of gossip?
"How'd the meeting go?" One of my students asked her newly arrived friend.
"Not great. They threatened to call child services on my mom," my newly arrived student replied.
"Woah, that sounds serious," another of her friends replied. "What did your mom say?" Another of her friends asked.
