I remember once upon a time, a certain teacher assigned me a project over the Easter holiday. We were to read certain sections of the book and write summaries about that section. It was, of course, busy work and a way for making up lost time. But I, as usual, waited until the last minute to do the project and did not complete it.
Come Monday morning, I went to turn in the assignment and saw that my mother had written me a note, an excuse as you will, for not completing the assignment. At first I was relieved, because this meant that there was no way I was going to fail the assignment. I showed up that morning and turned in the project with the note tucked inside. I do not know what the note said, but I really did not care. All I really cared about was not getting a failing grade or getting into trouble.
So today, the situation has turned around on me. Today, a parent became very upset that her child would fail my class for the quarter because he did not do the work and turned in an incomplete project. Never mind the fact that I notified the parent about countless problems I was having with her child during the 3 weeks we worked on it. Never mind the fact that I gave the child almost 2 additional weeks to redo the project and earn his points back. Today, according to this parent, I have failed her child.
So I sit and wonder. When my mother wrote me that note, was she failing me? She took great risk in doing that, because this was also a person she had to work beside day after day. It wasn’t as if she just had to come in for a parent conference, say her piece, and leave. No, she had to deal with this and chose to deal with it instead of having me deal with the responsibility.
They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. My intentions were to give the child a chance to take care of his responsibility on his own. For once, this year, I was going to let this kid decide he and he alone could fix his problem. And in a sense, I suppose I have failed this child because he was not going to do so.
And now, I will sit and wait to see this parent tomorrow, sitting in the principals office, and hear her tell me how I obviously do not like her child because he has improved in all the other classes except mine. Could it be that with my 8 years more experience than these other teachers that I expect more? Of course not. Her child has failed because I did not do the right thing. I did not tell his mom that he had bombed the project. I did not give her kid a chance.
Truth is, you get chances everyday to see what type of person you really are. In my heart, I believe I did right by this kid. I gave him every opportunity to do his best work, extra time, and the opportunity to do the right thing. And now the question stands: who will pay the consequences?
