Teachers, what did a student say that made you lose all hope? Reddit Story — Transcript

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1. 0:00Teachers, what did a student say that
2. 0:01made you lose all hope? I teach first
3. 0:02grade and every Friday afternoon we do
4. 0:04something called how to Friday. Each kid
5. 0:05stands at the front of the room and
6. 0:07teaches the class how to do something.
7. 0:08It's supposed to build public speaking
8. 0:09skills. Mostly it builds chaos, but it's
9. 0:11Friday, so we embrace it. That week I'd
10. 0:13asked them to prepare instructions for
11. 0:14something they were really good at,
12. 0:15simple enough, or so I thought. Now,
13. 0:17every classroom has one student who
14. 0:18operates on a different frequency. Mine
15. 0:20was Gus. Gus was 6 years old with the
16. 0:21negotiating instincts of a hostage
17. 0:23lawyer. On the first day of school he
18. 0:24traded a broken crayon for another kid's
19. 0:26entire pudding cup and I still don't
20. 0:28fully understand how it happened. By
21. 0:29October he'd organized a juice box
22. 0:30exchange with rates that changed daily.
23. 0:32Whenever Gus raised his hand, I had a
24. 0:34decision to make. Call on him and lose
25. 0:35control of the room, or delay him and
26. 0:37buy myself time. That Friday his hand
27. 0:39went up before I even finished
28. 0:40explaining the activity. I decided to
29. 0:41save him for the very end. Rookie
30. 0:43mistake in hindsight. It gave him time
31. 0:44to prepare. Millie went first. She
32. 0:46taught us how to make cereal, which
33. 0:47involved a very long section on choosing
34. 0:49the correct bowl. Solid work. Theo
35. 0:50taught us how to pet his cat without
36. 0:51getting scratched. A presentation that
37. 0:53ended with him showing us all of his
38. 0:54scratches. Rosa explained how to do a
39. 0:55cartwheel and had to be stopped for
40. 0:57insurance reasons before the live
41. 0:58demonstration. Bruno taught us how to
42. 1:00whistle. Could not actually whistle and
43. 1:01received a standing ovation anyway.
44. 1:02Through all of it Gus's hand never came
45. 1:04down. It stayed up during other kids
46. 1:05presentations, which I chose to
47. 1:07interpret as enthusiasm rather than what
48. 1:09it actually was, a countdown. Finally,
49. 1:10there was nobody left. "All right, Gus,"
50. 1:12I said, "come on up. What are you
51. 1:13teaching us today?" He walked to the
52. 1:14front of the room like a man about to
53. 1:15close a business deal. He had notes,
54. 1:17actual notes on index cards. "Today," he
55. 1:19announced, "I will teach you how to get
56. 1:20out of trouble. It works every time." I
57. 1:22should have stopped it right there. I
58. 1:23didn't because some part of me needed to
59. 1:24know. "Step one," Gus said, "deny it.
60. 1:26Not loud. Loud means guilty. You say it
61. 1:28quiet and you look sad, like this." He
62. 1:30demonstrated a face of such wounded
63. 1:31innocence that two kids in the front row
64. 1:33gasped out loud. "Step two, cry a
65. 1:34little, not a lot, one tear. Two is too
66. 1:36many, they get suspicious. Step three,
67. 1:37say a bigger kid told you to do it.
68. 1:39There's always a bigger kid. Step four,
69. 1:40if the teacher is still mad, say you
70. 1:42like her hair. Teachers love that." The
71. 1:43room was dead silent. 22 six-year-olds
72. 1:45were taking mental notes like this was a
73. 1:46master class. I stood at the back of my
74. 1:48own classroom questioning every decision
75. 1:49that had led me to this career, this
76. 1:51school, this particular Friday. "Step
77. 1:52five," Gus said, flipping to his last
78. 1:54card, "if nothing works, ask to go to
79. 1:55the nurse. Nobody follows you to the
80. 1:56nurse." He gathered his cards, said,
81. 1:58"Thank you for coming to my talk." and
82. 1:59sat down to genuine applause. I did the
83. 2:01only thing a professional educator can
84. 2:03do in that moment. I moved on. Okay,
85. 2:04thank you, Gus. Very detailed. Does
86. 2:06anyone have any questions? I was praying
87. 2:07nobody did. Ren raised her hand. Ren was
88. 2:09the quietest kid in my class. Perfect
89. 2:11behavior, tiny voice, the kind of
90. 2:12student teachers fight over. In 4
91. 2:14months, I'd heard her speak maybe six
92. 2:15times total. "It's not a question." she
93. 2:17said. "It's more of a comment." Go
94. 2:18ahead, Ren. "Step six is missing." she
95. 2:20said. "You have to pay the class snitch
96. 2:21so she doesn't tell." She folded her
97. 2:22hands neatly on her desk. "It's five
98. 2:24goldfish crackers a week. I'm the
99. 2:25snitch." Every head in the room turned
100. 2:26to look at her. Gus went pale. I walked
101. 2:28over slowly. Ren, what exactly has Gus
102. 2:30gotten away with? She pulled a folded
103. 2:32piece of paper out of her desk like
104. 2:33she'd been waiting all year for this
105. 2:34exact moment. "Remember the glue in
106. 2:36September? When Ollie had to miss recess
107. 2:37for a week?" Ollie's head snapped up
108. 2:39from the back row. "That was Gus. The
109. 2:40mystery smell by the hamster cage in
110. 2:41October? Gus. The whiteboard markers
111. 2:43that keep going missing? Gus sells them
112. 2:44at lunch two quarters each." She slid
113. 2:46the paper across her desk toward me. "He
114. 2:47stopped paying me two weeks ago. It's
115. 2:49all in there. I keep records." I
116. 2:50unfolded it. Dates, incidents, little
117. 2:52check marks. Gus stood up, looked me
118. 2:53dead in the eye, and said quietly, "I
119. 2:55like your hair."