Children

I spend eight hours and then five more as a teacher. I love teaching. I just wish my students loved to be taught. I know that they are the native born techno babies. However, do their parents spend quality time with them talking and reading? It seems that most students don't hear the things I say to them.


In a very affirmative voice I say, "Come in and sit down." They enter my door way, 36 at a time, chattering and embracing their neighbors with touches, hugs and sometimes punches (they are hugging in the next minute). I scramble to get them, to stop the madness and remind them of the protocol expected at school. Some of them stop yet others seem to view my speech as elevator music on a long journey to nowhere. What is it going to take to communicate effectively with them? A scream, a hand on the shoulder, a note home...What?


My mother, a retired teacher of 35 years, tells me it takes 16 repetitions for children to hear what you are saying. I am tired of saying. I have been teaching 15 years and I still love teaching. However, the "clientele" are making me question? Who is going to take care of me, when I am no longer able to do things for myself. Who will be helping me at McDonald's, Wal-Mart and even scarier, the nursing home. I am terrified. I am afraid that they will kill me. They can't follow through with instruction, they don't seem to be able to follow two step directions. What will happen to me, you, us?

Hopefully, maturation will conquer my bleak outlook. I am glad I believe in a higher being. Otherwise, I would question my purpose in the world.