I Can Wonder

When the kids tell me about their daily commute, I feel for them. They wake up extra early in order to catch the city bus, they take it to the train station, then they transfer twice and hop one last bus ride to school. The kids are tired before we even get started. It just doesn't seem fair.

Most of our kids in the summer reading program get to school via Marta. Since we start every morning at 10 a.m., they're up at 7 and out the door by 8. Although we are constantly preaching the importance of punctuality, it's impossible to punish these kids for being late to class when you consider the circumstances: they are reliant on an unreliable public transportation system where the buses and trains run so far behind schedule that they appear to be on time (if you are the type of person who is consistently 20 minutes late). Besides, punishing these kids for being tardy isn't part of the program. Punishment in general isn't part of the program.

Jake Hackett and Mecca Handy, the two members of Grady's faculty who are in charge, refuse to be punitive. There are no detentions, no tardy slips, no closed door meetings with the principal. I wonder what high school would be like if kids weren't constantly living in fear of being caught and subsequently punished. I think about what the system could be doing differently and then I remember that the system is much bigger than me; they have been giving detentions since forever and I think that they genuinely like to do it, so I don't see the system embracing the concept of laissez-faire anytime soon. But in our group, things are different.

Each young adult was invited into the reading program and each one freely chose to be a part of it. Therefore, it's up to them to put forth the effort to not only learn how to read but to also act like mature, responsible young adults. When someone talks while Mr. Hackett is addressing the group, the entire room waits until that person is done socializing. As you can imagine, we spend a lot of our time waiting. We stare at our watches and count the seconds, sometimes minutes, that it takes for the group to settle down before we continue on with a lesson, activity or lunch. When you talk about accountability and self-governance as much as we do, it's gratifying when a student takes your words into practice and does something to quiet the group. What happens when a student is late? All that Mr. Hackett asks for is communication. If you call or send a text message and tell of your whereabouts, then walking into a classroom 15 minutes late is not that big of a deal. You get your workbook, find a reading group with a volunteer, and catch up on what you missed.

These are perfect scenarios but please keep in mind that our program is far from perfect. There are kids that come late each day and yet they do not call. Kids walk around and distract other kids instead of studying their vocabulary. They throw mayonnaise packets at one another. The point is, we show them respect and treat them like civilized adults and they tend to respect us, and the reading program, in return. There is a noticeable shift in the general behavior of the group and it is for the better. We don't yell or crack knuckles with rulers like Catholic nuns and they don't smoke in the bathroom. We praise them for their accomplishments and they thank us for being there. We try hard not to forget that we were once their age and they constantly remind us of how thankful we are to have outgrown high school.

I think about the kids who don't attend this program, the illiterate teenagers who "graduate" from high school. I wonder if they call their bosses and explain that they're stuck in traffic and will be 15 minutes late to work. Do they text? If so, how do they text without knowing how to read a sentence?