Finals have ended and grades are in. The semester is over and there is nothing left to stress over, right?
I wish.
I am disappointed I did not receive the grades I wanted, especially with all the work I put in, but my husband has a great way of always putting things into perspective for me.
"You passed. Concentrate on what's coming next."
He's a man of few words. So I'm taking his advice (for once) and looking at all the things I was able to accomplish this last semester.
I learned that five classes is too big a load for me to carry, and four is my limit. Four is how many classes I signed up for next semester, and one is a de-stressing class. Power yoga anyone? Yeah, that's going to kick my butt!
I rocked my speech class, which I never expected. I enjoyed and understood astronomy and economics more than I thought I would. I kept trying to understand my math class, though my professors comments sometimes made me want to quit, and I am ready to try again with someone new. I have a support system in place to help me pass with a transferable grade this time.
I grew as a journalist. I joined the paper as a way to challenge myself to write in a different style. And what a challenge! I was sucked in immediately and somehow became the Editor-in-Chief. And though some deadlines were not reached and had to be pushed back, I am proud of what we were able to produce and now have a plan of action to not be so last minute. Even though I will admit, that last minute stress is a major high.
I became more involved in campus life, which was not in my plans when I returned to college. All of a sudden I have a better understanding of what the Student Government does (sometimes), how the college makes decisions, and how Student Life activities come about.
Most importantly, I learned that when you're the boss, you have to stay late to get stuff done, and sometimes that is killer. Midnight is a cake-walk when other deadlines have become overnights.
So even though I got a D in my math class, it's not a failure, it's a learning experience. While I let that class stress me out ALL semester, I am moving on to understanding what I was unable to grasp the first time around.
And that stress? I would make a New Year's resolution to combat it, but then I wouldn't, so let's just say that I have a plan to take care of it. To the best of my ability anyway.
Are we trying to move forwards or backwards?
I admit, I flipped out yesterday after reading an article about segregating homerooms by gender and race – in the state I live in! You read correctly. In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, a high school has split the homerooms up by gender and race with a teacher that “looks like them.” The thinking behind it is “studies show students do better in school when they have a strong mentor.” So, where does race tie in? The city/town where the program is being implemented is only a skip and a hop away from us. What’s to stop them from doing this statewide? While I applaud the school for trying a new program to achieve excellence, I have a few qualms about this approach.
One: Where do biracial or multi-racial children go? Do you put them with the teacher that has the most in common with them racially or the one that looks most like them? Either way you’re going to think the “other” part of you is not worthy. To me, you’re learning intolerance more than anything. In the real world, you work with many different people and don’t get a choice as to whether you want to work with a white, black, Latino or Asian person. If you want a job, you go with the flow or go.
Two: How much impact does 15 minutes a day really have? If you are only with that teacher for homeroom, where most of the time is being spent on announcements, where does the mentorship come in? Passing out paper and making announcements would not make. Does it not make more sense to mentor after school a couple days a week where you would get more one-on-one attention?
Three: Why not hold parents accountable? I know not everything is a parents fault, but sometimes that is the case. When a parent doesn't care, why should a child? Unfortunately, there are cases where a child's education is left solely to the school district and they can only do so much. I was recently at a school meeting to explain the new reading program they were rolling out. A parent was very verbally upset about the assignment, as the school district was making her child read EVERY DAY and since he doesn't like to, she has to "make" him. Um, yeah, that's your job as a parent. What if we let our kids get away with things they didn't like to do: like not brush their teeth, not shower and not change their underwear? Ew. Essentially, she was mad the school was making her "work". God forbid you should care. Believe it or not, if you show an interest in what your child is doing, they'll be okay. You know what happens when you get a job and decide not to do something because you don't like it? It's been my experience that you get FIRED.
While I don't agree with the segregation, at least the school district is trying to do something so kids won't fail. They're not just giving up on them. I think what rubs people the wrong way is that there are 2 black homerooms (male/female) and 4 homerooms for those learning English. You can imagine where the rest go. There's a book I highly recommend reading called Inside Delta Force by Eric Haney. It's his story about creating one of the elite military counter-terrorism units of the same name. A lot of what a human can deal with is 90% mental. A quote from the book that always stuck with me, and would do well to keep in mind when thinking of your work ethic: You don't have to like it, you just have to do it.
