A Tale of Two Students

During spring break, I was reminded of what a huge impact a small decision can make.

I caught up on information about two former students: Richard and Patrick. They were quite similar when I had them as eighth-graders nearly four years ago. Both were over-age (16 years old) and received special education services. Both got into trouble regularly and were suspended multiple times. However, due mostly to a couple of seemingly small decisions, their lives changed in vastly different ways.

A former colleague encountered Patrick on the street. She said he looked bad. He told her how hard life was for him and his family. He even asked her for money. She offered him a pep talk. She suggested he focus on taking care of himself, that he should go try to get a job that day. He seemed hopeless. “I can’t,” he said. “You know I only went through eighth grade.”

Patrick had internalized the message that schools preach so often. “Completing school is the only path to success.” While we hope that students stay in school where they can be reached by many adults with knowledge, skills and passion for making kids’ lives better, we must also ask ourselves if our schools are giving children what they truly need. Schools had repeatedly told Patrick that he was a “failing” student.  He believed it. The schools had failed to teach him the confidence, social skills and practical strategies that he needs to be safe, happy, and healthy in the world outside of school.

Are schools ignoring the realities of our students’ lives?

I thought about that question when I was deciding whether or not Richard would pass my class years ago. On paper, he should have failed. But when the special education coordinator came to me and asked if there was any way he could get a “D,” I paused.

I was a first-year teacher and “high standards for all” was a mantra that had been diligently drilled into my brain. But Ms. M changed my thinking when she said, “Another year here is not going to serve him.”

It was true. To put it bluntly, the school was a mess. We had made a lot of progress since the “takeover” at the beginning of the year, but things were still quite rocky.  Barely 50 percent of students passed the state standardized tests. Fights were a near-daily occurrence. Students were frequently arrested on campus. This was not an environment that was going to help Richard grow. He had already done two years in the eighth grade at this school. More of the same would not inspire change.

So I fudged his grade to allow him to pass.

Today, Richard attends a college-preparatory high school whose mission is truly to serve every student. I saw him at a local farmer’s market where he was volunteering, serving salsa samples to raise money for his school’s garden program. He showed me his report card – mostly As and Bs.

“Ms. English teacher,” he said, “I don’t get in trouble like I used to. Uh-uh, that’s the old Richard now.”

I told him how proud I was of him, and how happy I was to see him. I can’t help but wonder what would have happened if Patrick had been given the same chance as Richard. (Patrick was expelled before I had to make the pass-or-fail decision for him).

It’s hard to deny that there’s a correlation between suspensions, expulsions and jail time. In fact, that correlation is often called “the school-to-prison pipeline [2].” If Patrick doesn’t get a job, whether it’s because he doesn’t believe it’s possible or because he actually can’t get hired with his education and skill-set, he’s much more likely to wind up in jail.

It’s an unfortunate reality in our country, and especially in a low-income community like the one he lives in. We need to recognize that reality and teach kids not only for the end-of-year assessments, but also for the life they encounter outside of our school walls.

Craven is a middle school English teacher in Louisiana.