A Time of Consequences

I was watching the al gore movie yesterday on DVD, which was of course frightening. The DVD extras are updated with new information about the kinds of horrors that will come if co2 emissions keep going unabated. Like this batch of permafrost in russia that when unthawed will release more carbon into the air that will double the amount that is in the atmosphere. Like the first time I watched it, I came away with a sense of how bad it is and that something needs to be done, but not necessarily what I should be doing aside from changing some lightbulbs.

What I did come away with was the phrase he used that was from winston churchill

Owing to past neglect, in the face of the plainest warnings, we have now entered upon a period of danger greater than has befallen Britain since the U-boat campaign was crushed; perhaps, indeed, it is a more grievous period than that, because at that time at least we were possessed of the means of securing ourselves and of defeating that campaign. Now we have no such assurance. The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.

This period of consequences describes what this part of the school year is for me. The kids now who have through the first year acted as though they can do whatever they want have up til now given a great deal of excuses, asked for forgiveness, etc. Now is the time to drop the hammer. Its October, there is NO time for fooling around. I knew I was doing a better job of this this year than last year. I handed out a progress report to let kids know their grades and have been handing out quizzes once a week to let them know that stuff matters. I think kids are feeling the pressure. A kid today stopped doing work over the past two periods I had him. I told him today that if he is not going to do any work and just sit and talk to his friend he would have to not sit there. He replied with

"It doesn't matter where I sit, I don't do math, I have never done math, everything I have done in this class I have cheated on, everything I have done in any math class I have cheated on. I will take you to my middle school and show you the kids I have cheated on."

This was all said in that loud "I want everyone to hear me, but I'm not yelling" tone of voice.

"I don't care if you can help me learn, I don't want to learn. I want to fail, and then cheat enough to pass."

Anyways I called this kids dad at work today and I'll probably call his dad back again later tonight. I'm sure this kid was just trying to express his anger at me. I can also see how this little blow up today will probably wind up in more blow ups of increasingly angered behavior and of course less and less work in the long run. Its my hope to be able to cut it off now, which requires shifting his whole mindset about math, and seeing if he wants to do that, or if he wants to get kicked of class to stand by his little strike against work. Getting the parents involved will help, and so will the advisor as well, but I need to start thinking about the kinds of consequences I will have available for this kid when he is not working.

Its hard because if I act tough with him he'll close off and not want to learn. It is his brain after all. But I also cannot lay off the standards, because he has a brain, a high functioning brain that deserves to go to college and shouldn't be held back because math doesn't come easy to him. Even if the parents are very helpful and get him a private tutor and spend extra time on their own helping them with math, he can still come into class and just shut down. There needs to be a consequence for that. There needs to be a consequence for actively not learning, and I am not sure what that could be. Especially not one that doesn't sort of make the kid want to not learn at all anyways. Threatening kids with grades or detention isn't doing it. What consequence should work is beyond me, and I got this kid tomorrow, so the time for consequences is now.