A War Worth Winning

(Warning: This paper is satirical. However, with satire, it should be remembered that the truth is there – just buried beneath the surface).

When I walked into my first class 8 months ago, I was confident that:

• the students wanted to be there,
  
• they knew how to behave respectfully to adults
  
• they would be as impressed with my background as I was
  
• and they would give me full effort because they loved math, school and learning as much as I did.

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Oh BOY! I was wrong; for expecting kids to act as adults, for expecting kids coming from generational poverty to act like middle-class kids coming from homes where success is the norm, for expecting kids to think I was “all that”, and for thinking that I was “all that”. It took nearly two months before I came to grips with being wrong, another month for me to decide whether I was willing to let them drive me from teaching, and another month to re-invent who I was as a teacher. I realized that my failure was never about “them” - it was about me. It was about my attitude and my expectations. It was necessary to decide whether the “war” for my students future was noble and worth winning. Once I had decided that the “war” was worth winning, I began the planning and implementation necessary to win.

As with any proper military campaign, I first had to figure out who my enemy was, how he thought, how he played, how he worked, what he valued, and above all else, how his heart and mind could be won from the depths of a culture where academic achievement is scorned. I don't have the space to delineate and explore every nuance of my enemy and his world in this paper. “My enemy” values his time out of school and his time with friends. Hence, this is what all confrontations must deny him. The strategy is simple - make the pain of staying the same so unbearable, that the pain of conforming to what I require is minimal – and that in conforming, he achieves what is valuable to him. “My enemy” values clear and escalating consequences that allow him to choose how much pain he is willing to accept on a given day. I remove this choice and make the consequence more painful than he will accept. The idea is to cut off all traditional escape routes and leave only one path unobstructed - that of cooperation. “My enemy” perceives negotiation as a means of escape from undesired consequences and as a weakness in his enemy – so I do not accept excuses and do not “negotiate” with him except as it involves progress along the path to learning that I have left unobstructed. Any attempts to move away from that path involve severe enough consequences to bring him back to the path.

As with any insurgency, the ringleaders must be eliminated or converted in order for peace to exist. My classroom was no different. Some ringleaders were eliminated and sent to ALC. Some ringleaders left the class and joined an insurgency in another classroom. Some ringleaders stayed but ceased fighting, biding their time. Some gave over their hearts and minds. But in all classes, the environment is now conducive to learning. Students can now work freely in groups and individually without fear of reprisals from the ringleaders. Real learning is taking place. But no insurgency is ever completely eliminated. It is only put down for a time. As the insurgency rears its head trying to destroy the classroom environment, I viciously and ruthlessly crush its head under my heel. Those that suffered under the poverty of the insurgency, are prospering in a new environment with a potentially bright future. Those that were “my enemy” are now my friends.

As with any plan, the proof will be in the pudding. In two weeks, my students will take the TAKS. Did I take decisive action soon enough for my students to be able to pass? My biggest fear is that I did not, and that my delay in taking control of my classroom will cost them. But having fought the good fight this year, next year there will be no delay on my part. I have been reinvented into a lean, mean, “teaching machine” that will win the War Worth Winning.

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