by Glen David Young
Petoskey High School
Petoskey, Michigan
Catchers in the Classroom
by Glen David Young
Petoskey High School
Petoskey, Michigan
Current
Teaching Assignment:
Grades 10-12:
Tenth Grade English, Journalism, Advanced Placement Literature
Past Teaching Assignments:
Grades 9-12: Tenth Grade English, Creative Writing, Mythology, Journalism
In the midst of sorting out his angst, Holden Caufield, the morally challenged boarding school student, explains that in a dream he saw himself become “a catcher in the rye,” literally saving children from running off the edge of a high cliff to their deaths. Holden, the confused and faux-urbane protagonist in J.D. Salinger’s classic coming of age tale “The Catcher in the Rye,” nails on the head what it sometimes feels like to be a teacher.
Students come to us everyday lacking a strong sense of morality. These students, the products of a variety of home environments, make decisions, both inside and outside of the classroom, that demonstrate a lack of understanding for how their actions impact other people, and, sometimes, how their actions impact themselves. This lack of understanding is a direct result of the fact that parents and other adults are often refusing to be good role models for their children.
Teachers are asked to perform tasks that do not always appear directly connected to the subject matter that they teach. In my high school, we are asked to enforce the dress code, supervise the lunchroom and hallways, chaperone extra-curricular activities, and generally fill in when there is a need for adult oversight. In all of these tasks, we are called upon not only to give guidance so that the activity might be successful, but so that students might understand that there are consequences that accompany their actions. In this way, teachers are asked, and generally agree willingly, to offer moral guidance and support to their students.
Last winter I volunteered to chaperone a “Snowcoming” dance. Students filtered in all evening, dancing to the sounds of the disc jockey, mixing with their friends, and generally having a good time. Before the night was over, however, I was called on to help sort out a mess caused by three drunken students and the bad decision made by one of the students’ parents.
An assistant principal approached me when he intercepted the drunken students trying to enter the dance. He asked me to sit with them in his office while he waited for the police and the parents. The three, all sophomores and none I had had in class before, were understandably nervous and talkative. While I did little to engage them in conversation, thinking it best a job for their parents, the three began to discuss the expected results of the phone calls home. A wiry boy I knew played on the hockey team caught my attention when he announced to his buddies “my mom doesn’t care if I drink. She let’s me drink at home.”
I believed he was exaggerating his case, inventing something to say for both my benefit and the benefit of his nervous companions. But when the mother arrived, and she continued to make light of the situation, repeating sheepishly “boys will be boys,” I was inclined to think perhaps he was not exaggerating. Perhaps this mother did in fact allow her sixteen-year-old son to drink alcohol at home. Did she allow him to drink the night he climbed into a car with his two friends for the wintry ride to the high school dance? Did she tell the police that it was okay, that “boys will be boys?” Parents do not always make sound moral decisions where their children are concerned, and therefore teachers must often fill in the void.
Teachers of course provide this guidance inside the classroom even more than outside of it. My tenth grade students are required to read “To Kill A Mockingbird.” A focus of the novel is the pain and suffering caused by discrimination. Atticus Finch, the morally sound lawyer and father of the story, tells his children Scout and Jem that you should not judge a man “until you have walked a mile in his shoes.” Atticus understands that prejudice and discrimination are hurtful and wrong; they are immoral.
As part of their lesson on the novel, I assign my students to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes. I begin the lesson by asking how many of the students regularly volunteer in the community. Traditionally, the number is low. Parents are not asking their children to become involved in the community; they are not modeling for them the type of behavior that allows children to understand others, the sort of behavior that will eliminate prejudice.
Over the years students have completed a variety of projects for this assignment. Some have interviewed cancer survivors. Others have spent time with senior citizens living in assisted living facilities. Last year several students volunteered at the local women’s “safe house.” In all of these situations, students were able to gain an understanding for someone that they did not previously know. In this way, the book becomes a model for the students, and the students become models for one another. When the students present their assignments and we discuss the impacts, they invariably explain how they helped those they were getting to know. Often times that help is nothing more than listening to someone who feels there is no one to talk to. This lesson exemplifies for my students the importance of behaving morally, of reaching out to try and understand someone that they might not otherwise meet.
In addition to other classes, I teach journalism. Here we not only create the student newspaper, but we study other newspapers, as well as current events. What the students see in the news is often disheartening and we try to discuss the ramifications and importance of significant current events. What the students lean toward are stories that involve their favorite film and music stars. They regularly wonder why adults make a big deal out of the lyrics of popular songs or the content of current movies. Another source of amusement for them is the press given to violent video games. The students regularly tell me that the messages contained in the songs, the movies, the video games, is no big deal, that they understand the material is not meant to be taken seriously, and that adults should find something else to worry about.
What I try to impart to them is that adults worry when these diversions take up such a large part of students’ lives. Parents and teachers are concerned when students know more about Eminem’s lyrics than they do about the Odyssey. We grow concerned when Brittney Spears’ latest tirade gets more attention than the plight of Iraqi Kurds. We worry that students will develop a distorted sense of what impacts morality. While they may not always agree with me, they do participate in the discussions, often engaging one another. This conversation therefore becomes the building block for making judgments that will better serve themselves and their community.
In his May 2002 Atlantic Monthly magazine article “The Apocalypse of Adolescence,” writer Ron Powers posits that students, even those in small communities where the influence of the mixed messages that media sometimes send kids is more distilled, are more and more prone to indiscriminate violence because they lack for positive outlets. Powers contends that the reach of the media is longer and more powerful than ever, and that kids in the insulated hinterlands are now just as susceptible to outside influence as their big city brethren. Powers finishes his argument by saying that parents who have taken their kids to rural environments in hopes of escaping the pull of the negative city influences, are then ignoring their kids, thinking, in the words of The Who, that the “kids are alright.” Powers argument reinforces that parents are not always strong role models, and that kids need help.
Teachers and other adults in these communities must therefore fill in, giving the kids healthy outlets and alternatives. Research shows that kids are prone to taking risks, and that their brains are not completely developed in adolescence with regard to sorting out how choices influences them in the end. To combat this, or to help nurture the students, positive activities need to be offered. In my own small town, a group of local business and education leaders are currently spearheading an effort to launch a YMCA. The hope is that the effort will provide both a physical and a moral alternative for children, that they might have the time to fully develop their own decision making apparatus in the safe confines of a caring community.
Like Holden Caufield in Salinger’s perennially popular novel, teachers today are catchers, catchers in the classroom. The students we try to catch may not necessarily being headed for a literal cliff or imminent death; many of them are certainly headed toward trouble. These students lack positive adult role models, often times because their parents and other adults are unwilling or unable to foster a strong sense of community, and thereby morality. Teachers, like Holden Caufield, must be willing and able to fill the void.
Q1-The six year old with the telescope is interesting, but not necessarily unique. Kids of all ages are able to focus and reason if given the right circumstances and the right prompting. The six year old had a telescope, which is an indication of the importance his family puts on education and exploration. This emphasis obviously carried over to other areas of interest to the child. The example in the reading illustrates the point that if children are given the right environment and nurtured they can develop an interest and a desire to examine the world around them.
Q2- I was not completely surprised to read that young children may be “ethically introspective citizens.” As the father of a nine year old son and a seven year old daughter, I have seen the ethically introspection of children. My children have gone with me when I have worked with my students on their community service projects. My children have said as much as they understand not everyone in our small community has enough of what they need. My kids have seen me work with Habitat for Humanity and they have said that the work Habitat does is “nice for people that do not have their own houses.”
Q3- I certainly agree that morality can be taught in all manner of classes. My sophomore students are required to complete community service projects when they read “To Kill A Mockingbird.” They have to identify a local social problem, formulate a plan to address the problem, and then do something about it. They have to document their work and report to the class. A colleague regularly asks students to complete a “box” project. Students “adopt” a family in the South, and then find out what daily items the family need. Students fill their boxes with the items and send them to their adoptive family. Students in both my class and my colleague’s classes come to see the value of doing something for someone else.
Q4- What is meant by the term “moral witness” is that we all must regularly keep ourselves aware of whether or not we are doing what is right, whether or not we are continuing to become better individuals. Also, to be a moral witness means to constantly observe and evaluate what we see around us, what other people are doing and whether or not what is right is being served. An instance in which I think I was a good moral witness was a time when a couple of my students were sharing their essays. One student had written the assignment and turned it in on time. A second student handed in the assignment late, and had used more than half of the first student’s essay in their own. I made sure I understood that the two papers were essentially the same, then spoke with both students. I spoke with both students at the same time, explaining my perception of what had happened and asking for their input. The students immediately admitted they had shared the work. I explained that I needed to talk to their parents and that this was an opportunity for them to learn a valuable lesson. I also allowed both students to rewrite the papers, giving them a chance to complete the assignment in their own words. Both students were extremely contrite, completed the assignments independently, and received passing marks. The parents involved were understanding of my position, and behaved admirably with their children. In the end, everyone learned a valuable lesson about the benefits of working hard.
Q5- Courage is a situation in which a person faces a fear or obstacle, acting because the action is the right thing, even when a fear of acting looms large. Courage is action in a situation when failure sometimes seems the likeliest outcome, but when inaction or doing nothing is unacceptable. A student of mine who demonstrated courage was Sean. Sean did not beat back an intruder or scale an unconquered mountain. Sean published an essay in a statewide newspaper in which he said that teenagers’ penchant for drugs and promiscuity was undermining his generation’s ability to thrive. Sean did this knowing that other teens, some of his friends even, would disagree with him and even distance themselves from him. He wrote a convincing essay that made many valid points. Sean’s writing demonstrated courage.
Q6- The students who said courage is doing what is right even when you are scared, or not letting yourself to be scared are dead on. These students are right that courage does not necessarily mean facing some ugly demon that threatens you, but standing up for what you believe in. My tenth grade English class engaged in such a discussion last spring when we studied Ernest Shackleton and his trip aboard the Endurance to the South Pole. Some students thought Shackleton was insane for even attempting such a trip; others believed him brave and courageous for attempting such a trip. Students worked hard to sort out their feelings about such an adventure and whether or not it demonstrated courage. There was discussion about whether such a trip as Shackleton’s was in fact courageous because he was not made to go; he could have stayed home and done something more worthwhile, some thought. The interesting aspect was that students were engaged in a discussion of courage.
Q7- A good person is described as someone who is an alert witness, both of their own actions and the actions of others. A good person is the person is not afraid to say something when they see something amiss, and not afraid to change something they themselves may be doing that they realize is wrong.
Q8- When a teacher sees a student trying to get another student in trouble, the teacher should, if possible, first become a silent observer. Once the situation is evaluated, the teacher needs to try and steer the first student in a positive direction. The teacher does need to let the first student know that what they were doing is destructive, but only after the situation has been evaluated. I deal with high school students, and I have seen some students resist peer pressure, and even reverse the situation. Students should be allowed to do this when possible. If a teacher engages too early, students do not have the opportunity to work things out for themselves.
Q9- The Harry Singer Foundation is not giving students too much credit. While it is true that the research Shannon Brownlee cites is valid, this does not mean that students are incapable of acting responsibly. My own experience tells me that students can act responsibly. Also, students need models in order to develop their abilities. Models can come in the form of other teens showing their peers the way to act. Models can also take the form of adults and community organizations.
Q10- My students are indeed capable. Last year, when they became outraged at the injustice done Captain Charles McVay, the ill-fated leader of the U.S.S Indianapolis, the last ship sunk in World War Two, they took charge. My sophomore students gathered more than 1500 petition signatures and wrote more that 350 of their own letters to President Bush asking that McVay’s war record be amended. Yes, my students are capable and I welcome the chance to have them submit to your essay contests. I believe some of them would particularly like the theme of Government as Regulator.