Some Questions for Teachers...

What do I say to the kid who regularly sleeps through class and when pulled aside THIS time says a family member tried to commit suicide the night before? What do I say to the girl who was so bright and full of promise when was a student of mine in middle school when she comes back to class a several weeks into her junior year after her maternity leave is over? What do I say to the brilliant kid with almost straight F’s whose mom brings home a new girlfriend every week and she isn’t really sure how to handle it even though she tells her mom it’s cool with her? What do I say to the boy whose incestuous parents have crippled his social development for the rest of his life? Or the kid who makes more money an hour at 16 years old, working for a family business than the average masters level teacher? How do I tell them that our traditional, test driven, disconnected from reality, irrelevant to their very real lives, broken heating system in 30 degree weather school is where they belong? What good is our system doing them? Why do I insist on being part of a system that does not help those who need it the most? Why do I insist on being part of a system that punishes teachers who try and reach those kids on a real level because they are not fitting into the teaching template that improves test scores?