He was an obsessive eccentric who made the class a giant party every day. If our school had been in a ghetto, some washed up actor would totally be able to save his career by playing Mr. Springer in a movie about inspiring underprivileged kids.
Because he was such an amazing teacher, the school brought in new teachers to train under him. The way it worked in the district was, the new teacher would have total control of the class. The old teacher would only be there to answer the newbie's questions and offer moral support.
Mr. Springer made no secret of his absolute disdain for this system and for this underling in particular.
She was a "rules are rules" disciplinarian. He randomly handed out ten dollar bills in pink plastic eggs to anyone who could pass a spelling test.
Personally, as much fun as everyone was having, I really wasn't his biggest fan. I mean I liked him and I thought what he was doing was cool but I always felt guilty taking up a spot in his class because frankly I would have done well anywhere. I didn't need a giant dancing science fiction parade every morning to enlighten me to the power of story-telling.
Anyway, one day I finished my work and was writing a note to a friend. I first wrote up a draft, highlighting some of the thing I wanted to say. In the draft, I circled misspelled words and drew little arrows showing where I would move lines around for clarity.
I considered note passing to be a modern form of letter writing. I knew that my friends would keep these notes for years and reread them as adults. I kept that in mind as I wrote. Did I mention that my class work was done and that I had the highest grade in the the class, something like 800 points over the points possible and that the class had been taken over by a tyrant with total control over the class? (See a bit of grudge holding here?)
Well, she spotted my note writing and FREAKED. "How dare you take up my class time with THIS! "
She had serious demon eyes and literally had veins popping out when she yanked the notes off my desk.
This was the first time Underling had dealt with this type of felonious assault on her class time so she had to go to the big guy at the desk for guidance. Guidance from the guy who did nothing but glare evilly at her all class and no doubt wrote and rewrote Poe like scenarios against her in his mind while he watched her botch his class day in and day out .
She slapped the notes against his desks and called me up. He sat back and read the note, then picked up the draft. "What's this?"
"My first draft."
He leaned back in his chair and reread the draft. He immediately recognized some techniques he had taught. "You wrote a draft to a note?"
A huge smile crept across his face.
"This is what I taught you guys to do. And here you are using what I taught-all on your own. I am amazed. "
He leaned back again. And sighed a deep sigh.
"I'm so happy right now, I don't know what to say."
He took both notes and shook his finger in Underling' s face. "You are not going to the Principle with this. I am keeping these notes. This type of thing is why we are all here. She used what I taught her all on her own."
My wow moment as a parent came while I was snooping a bit.
I was looking through Reddit when I realized the page was still signed in to my 12 year old son's account. Knowing I had access to a 12 1/2 year old boy's musings on the the internet was a bit stressful, I wasn't sure what I would run into.
A common theme in our house is the discussion of the idea that every small thing you do in life affects a great many different people and events. We often find that some of the most earth shattering, crazy events in our lives can be traced to some small event that meant almost nothing at the time. I talk to the kids about how different I feel ( sometimes for hours) after someone lets me in in traffic as opposed to when someone doesn't say thanks when I let them in. We talk about all the different things I might do throughout the day based on the traffic exchange that occurred and how that effects others and so on .
Anyway, below is a response to a post on the social news site Reddit.com. I can can see we need to work on sentence structure but I think we are all guilty of run-ons when posting an emotional diatribe.
Below my kid's comment are the responses it generated -wow again. ( and ya- he did write this himself. He does talk like this all the time.)
Every time we go out and about at least three people ask what his IQ is.
Answer: really fucking high
These people are pathetic. If you move to a rain-forest in Brazil, your still in the middle of the Fucking rain-forest, recession or not.
If you go to veterinary school you will walk away with the ability to medically care for animals, that is knowledge that means something, knowledge that will always be useful and has been useful since man domesticated wild animals.
if you learn carpentry then you can build a house, if you make a movie then it's always there, ready to make you laugh or smile or cry, if you join a conservation program then your actions may save a species.
they may tell you that one man cannot change anything, that everything you do will have no affect on anyone else.That is a blatant lie.
Everything you ever do, from smiling at someone you don't know to throwing your brother a surprise party, everything you do every single day of your life impacts the lives of those around you and vice versa, with their destinies slightly shifted by your actions, they go on to effect the actions of others, years after you've done something the direct consequences are playing out on the other side of the world. everyone is the Center of a gigantic ripple in the the pond we call Earth, each center being constantly affected by the Billions of other ripples being given off each day by Billions of people. Causing the ripples you create to be fundamentally different and have different affects on the other Centers, and on and on. A gigantic ever-shifting Monument to the mastery of the human race over it's own cosmic destiny.
Welcome to the Universe.
There is no human on this Earth that does not posses the power to change his or her own destiny, even in the the smallest of ways, they throw excuses in their own paths, they say that hey have no choice but to live the rut of routine that they created for themselves and exist in by their own choice, that the invisible "System" they claim holds sway over their lives does not allow them to be themselves, only glassy-eyed automation's screaming for release. but in truth all that holds them back is themselves, there is no physical barrier preventing you from telling your boss to suck it, no looming guard forcing you to use your overpriced credit cards, no walls to keep you from moving away from your shitty housing development and your obnoxious neighbors, there is nothing but your own delusions.
You remain in your grudging life of your own accord, not knowing that you've had Ayn Rand turning in her grave at MACH 2 for years.
What will you do? will you ignore my words and continue to wallow in self pity? Or will you acknowledge your existence as an utter individual, that one thing that can move the world through will alone, as you have been able to from birth. Just like the entire human race.
What will you do? The choice is yours and yours alone.
allenizabeth 6 points7 points8 points 10 days ago[-]
systemghost 6 points7 points8 points 10 days ago[-]
Offensive_Brute 0 points1 point2 points 8 days ago[-]
CaptainDevious 1 point2 points3 points 10 days ago[-]
deadilyduplicate [S] -1 points0 points1 point 9 days ago* [-]
Offensive_Brute 0 points1 point2 points 8 days ago[-]
deadilyduplicate [S] 0 points1 point2 points 9 days ago[-]
deadilyduplicate [S] 0 points1 point2 points 9 days ago* [-]
