with every random thought I have that wants to be poetic
with the names of bands I've been meaning to check out but haven't
with non-appointments with myself
with the things i want to write on my stickies but can't because they're too personal or embarrassing
So I've been a little bit bummed out at work (the newspaper written for kids, by kids) lately because this thirteen-year-old kid is constantly bored and despondent, always very dissatisfied looking, avoiding eye contact and not really listening, sitting like 8 feet away from me (while I write edits on his paper.)
I always ask him what he likes, and if he'd like to write about something else besides this instead if it's not interesting to him. He responds with, "It's okay."
I ask him what classes he likes, he says "Gym." He tells me that there's nothing he really likes that is academic and that even if he likes sports, he doesn't like to write about them. I mean, like, serious bummer.
Today, I talked to this kid about break hoping to get him to open up about what he does with time that's expendable. I asked what he's been doing. "Playing."
"What kind of playing?"
"Inside playing."
"So like, on the computer?"
"No."
"Video games?"
"Yeah."
"Do you have a Wii?"
"No."
"PS2?"
"No."
"What do you have?"
"PS3."
"Oh okay. What do you play?"
"Call of Duty."
"Isn't that a shooter?"
"Yeah."
"Like Halo?"
"Yeah. Kind of..."
"Eh, I don't really like shooters. They're confusing!"
"What? All you have to do is point and shoot!"
"Well, I get confused about how to walk around."
"That's so easy!"
"But then they shoot you first and you die!"
"So shoot them first!"
First emotion I ever got out of him. No kidding.
"Well, I'm sorry I'm not good at shooters. Geez, I like Super Smash Bros."
"I don't like that."
"Why not?"
"Because it's hard. I was Kirby and I kept floating away and then dying."
"Oh well, that's so easy, all you have to do is use the arrow thingies."
"Well it's annoying, if he flies, he should."
"Well, see, you see it's not so easy!"
I got him to admit to me that he failed his science project that was worth 50% of his grade, but he got to redo it to recover his grade. I told him that he should've brought the science project to the office so I could look it over and help him. He said, "Then I'd have to bring all my stuff!"
"So bring all your stuff."
"But then I'd have to print like 5 pages out!"
"Hmm... five pages or fail?"
"...Fail."
I asked him why it was hard for him. He expressed that he didn't think science was necessary for anything really and he didn't see why he had to learn it. So then I told him this story about how I corrected his article last week that's about cars and they talked about carbon fiber which is lighter than steel and thus more efficient. Then later I was talking to my Dad and then this guy in my French class about bikes and how I was wondering if since those materials like carbon fiber and titanium reduce weight, is it ethical for people with unequal bikes to have races?
I explained that his article, because I chose to ask him to look up what carbon fiber was, helped me understand something else that I didn't even know I might be interested in, and in that little way, it made me more educated. In fact, his article is actually really(!) exciting in that it talks about cars with rechargable batteries that could actually recharge while driving, thereby not emitting.
This led me to explain why I care about learning, why it's important to be interested in the world around you, and why you should want to get really good at something academic because no matter what you want to do, if you want to be somebody, you gotta put in the hours and you gotta learn to love and appreciate the opportunities you have to learn.
And yeah, he looked at me like I was crazy, but I was super honest with him, and said, "I know you think I'm full of crap, but I was just like you are now and I didn't see the value in what we were doing. But as we went on through school, and as I started to really learn science, and social studies, whatever, I started to realize how everything I learned was really important to know, and I liked it so much more. Wouldn't you rather enjoy everything you do instead of just waiting around to be at home playing video games?" I went on to explain that though I sound silly and uncool talking about how cool it is to know stuff, I am having a great time with life, I smile at people, and I'm excited to do what I came to do.
I asked him if he was listening and he said, "Kind of, yeah."
But he was smiling.
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