Random "Wow" moments

"Intelligence plus character -- that is the goal of true education" -- Martin Luther King Jr.

What if there is no character? What happens to or in the education process then? Well this week I am learning, getting that "education".

Student #1 - Case of the mysterious stolen email account

The following was emailed specifically to a group of basketball players and one coach:

"I QUIT THIS TEAM YOU FUCKING IDIOT THE WHOLE TEAM IS HORRIBLE IM THE ONLY GOOD 1 !! FUCK YOU AND THE TEAM"

I was surprisingly calm when I received the message and not in any way ruffled or surprised. I replied to let this individual know that although their action were extremely disappointing, they still had an opportunity to mend the relationship that they were in the process of destroying. At about 9:45 pm that evening I received a paniced phone call. The young man in question was offering a plea claiming that he would never do that kind of thing and that someone had broken into his email account and sent the message. When I inquired about how someone knew to send it to the members of the basketball team and the coach, the young man had no answer. I hung up the phone saying that I didn't know whether or not I should believe the "stolen email account" story. The next day I got another message from the same young man asking when the next practice was so that he could attend. WOW!

Student #2 -- Case of the PINT

There are three students from my high school who also play on my club team. The instruction was because you are already at the school where we practice, it doesn't make sense for you to try to get home before practice. Use your time wisely and go to study hall in the coach's classroom before practice (school ends at 3 pm, practice starts at 4:45). One of the students was attending regularly but on the day in question he made a poor choice and was being punished for it. The second student never attends so while I was dealing with one, I thought it was appropriate to deal with the other. Both students were told not to return to practice for the rest of the week as punishment for not attending study hall. The next day one of the expelled players came to my room claiming the expulsion was unfair because I was mad at the other guy so that's why he got in trouble too;

Coach: "Were you in study hall?"
Player: "No, but..."
Coach: "What is your point because right now you only have a PINT?"
Coach: "Have you been to study hall since you got kicked out of practice?"
Player: "No"
Coach: "Have you attended study hall regularly?"
Player: "No"
Coach: "Since March, how many study halls would you say you have been to?"
Player: "Um, two"
Coach: "I have nothing more to say because obviously you don't get it"
Player: "I do get it"
Coach: "Then sit down and be quiet because if you keep pissin me off study hall isn't going to be what you need to worry about and if I start cussin you are going to cry"

Coach leaves the room but is stopped in the lower hallway before leaving the building. Three minutes have elapsed and the same student comes walking down the hallway escorted by a young lady. At that point I tell the player to return the jersey and not to return to the team at all. The next day he's at my door and wants to apologize for his behaviour and wants another chance. WOW!

Student #3 -- Case of absences being more than my age

This particular student has a double double going in my class. Great if we are talking basketball but hers are double digits for absences (28) and double digits for lates (15). Mark in the class is 25%. Yesterday we had a futile conversation in an attempt to help shake her to consciousness about how she is being in my class and in all her classes is affecting her achievement. We go back and forth, going to great lengths to demonstrate that her leaving teachers with the impression that she is "less than capable" can't possibly serve her desire to attend a post-secondary education institution. After an hour of overstanding the student says:

Student: "Can I have the work for tomorrow?"
Teacher: "Why?"
Student: "I won't be in class. I'm going on the grad trip"

WOW!

Being Smart will make you unpopular...

A student shared an article with me the other day that was claiming that being a "nerd" or "smart" will make you unpopular. It may seem strange to say that because these are suppose to be diametrically opposed understandings - smart versus dumb, powerful versus powerless. How could someone who is smart be the unwanted individual while playing or appearing not so smart be the more desired outcome? This has been the position of my inquiry on this issue since I first heard Marianne Williamson's poem used in both Akeelah and the Bee and Coach Carter:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small doesn't serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

It is not in just some of us; it is in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

For me what this poem gives me is power and permission to be great. I AM ENOUGH! It does not serve me to be small in order to not make others feel secure and that kind of power must certainly be a more attracting commodity then mediocrity. The work around this is recognizing those moments when I am feeling powerful and being able to duplicate them not only for my own growth and development but to also provide an opportunity to manifest that in the world around me. If this makes me unpopular then so be it but I doubt that it will because

"Sometimes we wake up knowing that something wonderful will happen. Most of the time it doesn't but when it does, it happens for real"