Serendipity is one of those wonderful, uncontrollable things.
We were out at a local place here in the Bronx, and I met a youth football coach. He went into great detail about how young people today are more difficult to coach. Instead of the incessant complaining about ‘today’s kids’, he explained his approach to teaching and coaching.
“You can only be what you can see”.
His coaching style has adjusted over time. Instead of griping … “I coached and explained, and they didn’t learn” … he has adjusted his style. Student athletic / football success is his currency, and he needed results. He needs wins. What he did was make sure, through altering his style and coaching manner, that the athletes were able to ‘see’ success in small, incremental steps. His ability to adjust to the situation he was in, rather than wish that the situation was that of yesteryear, was refreshing.
In the podcast I go into the details behind our conversation, what our students ‘see’ in school. The self-imposed limits on what we expose our students to, as well as the narrow focus of the oppressive Testing Industrial Complex, all play in a role in intellectually hamstringing our students. We show our students trauma and oppression in their classes. Do we show / teach anything else? What are they seeing after 7 hours in schule?
At the end I explain the twisted and broken world of my new friend’s wife: she’s the admissions director for one of the top test-in public schools in NYC. What parents of all races say to her when their child doesn’t get accepted might surprise you. It’s very disappointing what they’ve done to the American Parent’s mind.
Thank you to all the subscribers, free and paid. The readership keeps growing, and I’m thankful you understand the rough truth that we peddle here in MVHS Room 108.
This Vacation Week in Shule: You Can Only Be What You Can See