Career day

I keep meaning to tell one of my favorite school stories …. 

I heard this from a friend of mine who teaches in an urban school.

The school sounds like a happy place. It sounds like a reasonably effective place, too, although listening to the stories makes me even more convinced (if that’s possible) that all schools need field-tested, proven curricula. They need books that can carry the teacher if the teacher needs carrying.

Teachers who need carrying aren’t the only reason schools need field-tested, proven curricula, but they’re one of them for sure.

I should add that I think most teachers probably need carrying at least some the time. I certainly have. When I decided to re-teach math to C., a project that required re-teaching math to myself, I chose Saxon Math for that exact reason. This book will get us both through algebra, I thought. 

It did. 

Anyway, back to my story.

Once a year my friend’s school has career day, when they invite an employed person, usually a parent, I think, to tell the kids what it’s like to work as ‘X.’ 

This year they had a policeman. 

All the kids were interested, and had lots of questions to ask.

My friend’s favorite question, by far: 

How much time do you get for Grand Larceny in the Third Degree?

Talk about missing background knowledge. I didn’t even know Grand Larceny in the Third Degree was a thing, let alone how much time you might spend in jail if you get caught doing it. 

This reminds me of that great Kevin Bacon line in Diner: “Do you ever get the feeling that there’s something going on that we don’t know about?”

Answer: Yes. Yes, I do.