The most important asset you have is either Time or Bitcoin.
Driving
My daughter and I discuss the difference between a B.A. and B.S. degree. She wants to know how much math she’ll need to take in college. I am guessing she is the first high school junior to ever wonder that.
Theater
I talk with the Theater teacher about being gone Friday. Big fundraising mandatory parent meeting. Bake sale, bingo, etc. I will be on the East Coast filming. She is gracious, all is good. For some reason I can’t recall, we start talking country music, and she references - I think - the Alan Jackson song “In a Blink.” I believe that’s the song, but I cannot remember if he’s the artist she was referring to. I will have to check. I think it had something to do with the lyricist getting a D in English for grammar slaughtering. Something like that. We laugh.
Maths
An 8th grader informs the teacher and class - basically anyone within earshot - that “this book is trash,” referring to the math textbook.
The teacher quizzes the class on their skills: spheres, cubes, volume, etc. My son is trying hard and doing well. Maybe…give some credit for that. For learning, for growth, for trying, for not distracting other students, for giving attention, and for not making disrespectful comments about others or the curriculum.
Conversations 1
The principal, a goodfellow, seems like a guy who knows mowers. So I ask him. He shrugs when I ask his opinion on different brands. He’s on a Cub Cadet too. Difference is that his is currently working. “Not much of a difference,” he says, smiling, “until you upgrade to the next level. You know, when you get the kind that you keep in the garage.”
Good human being being human. Good principal.
Conversations 2
I talk with my friend, another 8th grade teach, about her grandson. First trip to the zoo! He’s talking up a storm and very into snacks. I show her a picture of my week-and-change old niece. She agrees she’s cute.
Quotes I like
“I like work that puts calluses on my hands. Except weeding. I hate weeding.” -a student (PB), when I asked about the kind of work he’ll be doing on a Mexico mission trip this summer
Honesty
AP Human Geography. Mr C—- looks pleased at the video he has up on screen. It’s the U.S. debt. In real time. Currently at $34,774, 744,000,000. That’s 34 trillion and change. He leans up against a desk, looking back and forth between the video and students’ reactions. It’s not the debt he’s pleased with. It’s satisfaction that he is showing them of something of value, relevance, and interest that wouldn’t be on the radar of most otherwise.
A student raises her hand to ask a relevant question about a movie he said they’d finish in class. The pleased expression disappears: “We will finish Tangled, okay!?”
He returns to financial matters. “How much debt can the U.S. carry before consequences really kick in?”
He goes on to explain GDP, debt, and discretionary versus mandatory spending.
“I’m going to be very honest with you: before you make any big financial decisions…talk to someone who understands how money works.” Good advice.
He continues talking about taxes and the House of Representative’s role, which transitions into an aside of two-year election cycles and how they can be effective in voting unpopular or ineffective representatives out.
A student raises their hand:
Mr C—-, why didn’t you buy Bitcoin?
He looks up with a friendly glare: Not your business.
My defense of Teachers’ Rights, amidst observations and notable lines from a History teacher
“…a recent President was ridiculed for asking NATO countries to pay their fair share.”
Note: This is a good teacher. A very good one. He also asks me - and others - regularly: “Am I doing okay?” Soliciting feedback and seeking growth. That is character, intelligence, and wisdom. That’s also why I’m not going into the weeds with certain phrasings, verbiage, or ways of tilting information, coming from a teacher, that is drifting into polemic, propaganda, or partisan; a sort of wink-wink, “I’m not taking sides but here’s the information I think you need sort of thing.” He generally does not do that. He is an effective and engaging instructor who cares about students learning. I’m not going to attack or criticize every way of phrasing something that can be reflective of a personal viewpoint, when it is not a pattern or recurring motif. It’s not.
Teachers need to be able to teach, within the lens and scope of their experience and education, without having others - me - included - come in and educate them on how they are doing it. In this era of so-called “parents’ rights,” - a euphemistic phrase that sounds like something nobody could argue with - I am strongly - as an invested parent - supportive of teachers’s rights - the right to teach within their classroom in a reasonable manner, without being scrutinized and judged and second-guessed at every juncture.
He is a good History teacher. I tell him that regularly. It is true. I don’t have to agree with him on everything to say that. He doesn’t need my affirmation, although I am happy to give it to his character and his teaching method, if not every detail and moment and idea. He has my support, as a teacher. He should have the support of every parent of every student in his classroom, and he should be able to teach.
He reminds them: “Eventually you will be old enough where you care about things like net debt and Social Security and spending for schools.”
He scrawls away on the whiteboard. I chuckle and laugh and remind myself to tease him after class about which phrases in a sentence he chooses to highlight. Example: “They want to do what with Social ________?”
No teacher says “Ladies and gentlemen” more prolifically or with greater import than him.
“Ladies and gentlemen…you’re rich.”
Waits for this to sink in. Waits another few extra seconds beyond to nod with satisfaction at their wonderment.
”You’re rich.” He purses his mouth and continues nodding. “You’re rich. The most important asset you have is what? TIME. Time.”
He glances at the clock and pivots quickly, addressing the class earnestly. “Are you okay? Are you upset I talked about this? Are you okay? We’ll finish Tangled next period. I promise.
I forget to ask why they’re watching Tangled. Perhaps it has to do with fiscal matters of the kingdom.
