Thursday, March 11, 2010

All Excuses

Today was my first day back at work in a while. Nothing has changed. The graphic art class I covered went along as usual.

I sub at the continuation high school a lot. However, when the topic of the continuation high school comes up at the traditional high schools, I always urge the kiddos to not end up there.

As I was walking the room, I overheard one of the students talking about his class choices. Apparently, it's time to select next year's classes. I inserted myself into the conversation, and then it took a turn. It all started with math.

The boy didn't want to take the next math in the sequence. The girl complained that she had failed algebra 1 twice. And then somehow, they ended up talking about summer school. The girl complained that she was going to need 8 hours a day of summer school (they offer 6 hours max.). She was behind in credits.

I knew where that was leading. The girl said that she was going to end up at the continuation high school next year. So, I asked why she was so behind. Did she need extra help? No, her previous high school wasn't releasing her transcript due to monies owed.

I asked why she couldn't go and pay up. She said it would take too long to get there (the old school is an hour away). Could she send them a check? She didn't have a checking account. I clarified--could she get her parent to send them a check? Her parent didn't have a checking account.

I walked away. The excuse train was building up speed, and I didn't want to get run over by it.

This explains the attitude of much of the student body of the continuation high school. None of this surprised me.

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