The architecture of Futures High School allowed me to amplify traditional classes by creating new courses. For example, after completing Anatomy and Physiology students next enrolled in Medical Careers, where they took rotations through an array of departments at nearby Beverly Hospital. What they had learned in Anatomy was visible every day in the rotations through the emergency room, surgery, pediatrics, physical therapy and other units.
Science bounced out of the textbook into eyes open wide at the hospital in the afternoon. Each day, in the hospital cafeteria, we debriefed... students sharing what they'd just seen and what new things they'd learned. What they did not immediately see was a deeper meaning to the pages of their textbook.
RUDY
This morning I had a happy moment to catch up with Rudy Salinas, a Futures student from 1993-94. What an inspirational story he shared as he's on partner track in the company he's long worked for. The company's owner discovered what I saw in Rudy in the classroom. I could see in Rudy his instant and comprehensive grasp of what was on agenda. That owner saw his potential early on and paid for 2 years of management and human resources training that make Rudy a perfect candidate for future partner.
He remembers that we didn't give up on him when he was being... "Rudy". Now he is doing the same. More from Rudy coming soon.
#2: LET'S CALL HER Geë
Futures was a school where my year first year Psychology students could subsequently enroll in an advanced Psychology course: Peer Counseling. Here they applied the foundations of psychology to the challenge of working with other high school students needing someone to listen.
We were in a mid-semester Peer Counseling discussion reviewing Motivation and Emotion, a chapter from last years Psychology book.
It was in that high school psychology class that Gigi taught me something new about high school students.
The topic of discussion? What are you going to be doing in 10 years/20years? Sitting in a circle, students took turns responding. Gigi was the last to share when she burst out:
"That's a foolish, stupid question. Who cares what we'll be doing 10 or 20 years. We won't be around. This is a waste of time, we're not gonna live that long."
Like falling off a cliff, the room dropped into silence, the rest of the class was taken aback by her outpouring.
"That's an interesting response Geë, please elaborate."
Out came a torrent, a long bullet list of reasons why she felt that she wasn't going to live that long, explaining why this discussion was completely irrelevant.
When she finished, I said: "Geë you've been watching a lot of television news." Her eyes opened wide. "How do you know?"
"I turn the TV news on when I get home about 3 pm, it keeps me company when I'm alone. It's on until I go to sleep."
Geë world view had been taken over by long term exposure to all the IF-IT-BLEEDS-IT-LEADS news stories that dominated consciousness on a nightly basis. No wonder she had an extremely altered view of what she believed would be a very short lifetime.
Later in that Peer Counseling class Geë shared that her sister had just died the night before. I was surprised she was even at school. A few weeks earlier her sister had been released from jail for a drug violation. Geë remembers her saying: "No matter what, I'm not going back to jail. Ever!"
Over the last few days, Geë's home had become a nightly "flash-bang" journey. Her sister would arrive home at 3 or 4 am disturbing the quiet sleeping household, but still, Geë was happy to have her back home until last night.
Her sister (under the influence, a parole violation) had been pulled over after midnight. Finding herself at the curb in front of two patrol units and three officers nearby, she remembered her vow:
"No matter what, I'm not going back to jail. Ever!"
Geë threw the gear shift to Reverse and stomped on the gas. Many shots were fired: "Suicide by police."
Yet Geë still came to school every day with good but not perfect attendance. In my book she's a heroic figure coming to school trying to move forward in a life with too many tragedies.
Yet Geë still came to school every day with good but not perfect attendance. In my book she's a heroic figure coming to school trying to move forward in a life with too many tragedies. If I were to make a documentary of her life, I'd open with this sound track...
Click on the video below. Move slide scrubber to 59 seconds, then listen while you read the rest of this page. Korsokov will give you a sense of how I feel about Rudy, Geë and the rest of my students, they all walk in my mind with a sense of nobility.
The take away here is that too many high school kids find themselves in everyday classrooms, taking ordinary classes, but living extraordinary lives with too many obstacles. Geë, thank you for teaching me that there are too many kids in my classes facing extraordinary circumstances. So if they didn't do their homework last night, I might want to consider if it's explained by something like "Geë's sister".
It's important to register here that when I hear "students are lazy"or that "they don't care," I think of Geë. In all my 39 years in the classroom, I've never meet a lazy kid or one that didn't care.
Rudy, tonight, do this last before your family goes off to sleep.
Play Rimsky Korsokov's March of the nobles and remind your wife and kids that I'm thinking of you.
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