Education & Expectations.

I am doing my clinical practice( fancy new education word for student teaching)in a first grade classroom. Today the school had an assembly to watch the President give an address on education. The Star Tribune, and quite a few other media outlets were present at this event. Our school was featured in the paper!

One particular student in my class is quite defiant. He has had to go to the behavior room on several occasions during the first week of school. He was taken out of his home last year by child protective services. He is six years old and has already been dealt some rough cards. This same kid is at grade level in reading and can count to 100.

My neighbor began kindergarten last week. He missed the first day because he wasn't registered. Last night I got home around 10 p.m. and he was still up. He peered his little nose through the screen window and said he couldn't fall asleep because his Mom and her boyfiend were fighting. This morning the doorbell rang and this five year old boy was standing there with his older sister asking if I could give him a ride to school. I had to leave for work in 10 minutes. I couldn't give him a ride. He missed his bus. This is only his 3rd day of kindergarten. His Mom gave him a ride, and he got to school two hours late.

My good friend works at a high school in North Minneapolis. One of her students was in a pretty serious fight today. She sat him down and they talked about what happened. He is pretty high up in the world of gangs. He shared with her the struggles he faces each day.

After president Obama's speech we asked the first graders what they would want to tell the President. We also asked what they are supposed to do in school, and what the speech was about. The students said they would like to tell the President he is "handome, brave, smart, kind, he has nice hair, and that he has a beautiful family." While I am sure older students may have had opinions on what the Presidnet should do for; education, immigration, health care, and the array of issues, the answer that had the greatest impact was that he is "brave." President Obama talked about the challenges he faced growing up, and how hard he had to try to succeed. He had to show courage. So many students in our schools have external factors beyond their control. They have had to be "brave", and their audacity amazes me every day.

You can read an excerpt from the President's speech below. The full speech can be viewed here.

' Now I know it’s not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.
I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when tI was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.
But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our First Lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn’t have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.
Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don’t have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there’s not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren’t right."