Oh! I am so happy I am outta that place...

That was something I heard earlier today from a woman who retired from my school last year. She gave me a sympathetic look when I told her it was my first year and preceded to roll her eyes when I responded with, "So far, so good." Her reasons (though not explicit) for this reaction might have been legitimate. She saw the community change from a traditional, mostly mid to upper-class town to a more transient, financially disadvantaged one. She said that "the 'clientele' (really, why not just say "kids" or "students") didn't know why they were coming to school in the first place" and "didn't really care anyhow". Now, though I had to bite my tongue when she was speaking, I do not think she was an insensitive teacher. Instead, my interaction with her reinforced my theory that the majority of educators (certainly not all) will eventually find it difficult to connect with their students. Honestly, how can this white, presumably financially-stable, woman genuinely relate to a group of economically disadvantaged children of color who society has taught her only to know as "hoodlums"? I wish this were not the case, but in my modest experience it certainly has been.

Should I have explained to her how different my teaching experience has been so far? Should I have told her that some of my kids have brothers and sisters older than me? Could I have told her that I think my kids respect me more because I have seen some of their favorite rappers in concert? Should I have said that I play basketball after-school with my kids to give myself some more credibility in their eyes? Perhaps I should have said that my own family is racially diverse so maybe I can relate to them a little more? Or do I just smile and nod at the appropriate times? This woman obviously cared about kids. She was a retired school teacher after all- she wouldn't have spent a lifetime in a job she hated, collecting an offensively low weekly paycheck. This is a woman who was tainted by the system. Her immediate recollections are of her past few years of teaching, when "they" started to move in. This was the latter part of her career and, as she thought of it, also the demise. Again, this woman is not representative of our entire retired teaching community. Rather, there is another factor in this scenario. I think that it is also a matter of simply seeing things in a more positive light. If you are sitting in your living room on a cold, winter day and the sun is shining in, are you going to celebrate the rays of light or complain about the excessive heat they emit? Seriously, take your GD sweater off and ignore your increasingly sweaty palms.

My students are amazing. They are smart, motivated, funny, personable, enthusiastic and eager to learn. Yes, they are also black, Latino, and Asian, some come from larger families, have brothers that are in jail, some are foster kids and have parents that do not return phone calls. But should I focus on the stereotypes or should I celebrate their unique talents and gifts? Please... I'll take that sunshine any day.