Chad…that name brings so many thoughts about the education system to my mind.
Who was Chad?
Well, this experience happened to me in my very first year as a teacher at the tender age of twenty. I was untrained but was fortunate enough to be hired by a small private primary school. I really loved teaching in that school. Small classes, a friendly staff and a soft spoken and personable principal.
However, this school, like many other private schools had a reputation of academic success to protect and this definitely played into the story of Chad.
So getting back to my initial question…Who was Chad? He was one of my fifteen nine year old students who I taught Math and Science. It was a bubbly, happy and vibrant bunch and Chad was the most vibrant of the lot. He was an exuberant child who told so many jokes and had such a quick wit that even adults couldn’t help but be swept into his stories and just laugh. He was also a boys’ boy. If there was a football he was front and centre. Yet, what was intriguing about Chad was that he was just as happy sitting quietly with a pencil in his hand making artistic creations while all his friends were downstairs running wild.
Once I remember entering the classroom during recess only to see Chad sitting across from my desk drawing the flower that I had been given to me by another student that morning. He was focussed. He was quiet. His mind and hand were totally engaged. He almost didn’t hear me enter the room. His art piece was so beautifully done that I wondered if I could have done it any better and I would like to think that I am quite good at Art having done it as my elective in Teacher’s College.
On another occasion during a class party Chad took it upon himself to create and perform a one-man-skit using a box that he transformed from the corner of the room into a car. The performance was so hilarious that all who viewed it rolled with laughter. It was a hit! A child of great talent!
Unfortunately, his talents did not quite fit into the academic structure of the school. It was difficult for me as an untrained teacher to keep his interest in the rules of Math. Looking back I wish that I knew then what I know now about effective teaching skills. Nonetheless, I wasn’t the only teacher who struggled to have him settle down in class. This was clearly a bright boy but the academics were just not coming together. As far as everyone was concerned he had to just settle down and behave himself!
It seemed that every week his mother would be called in by the principal to discuss how to deal with the problem that was Chad. I felt that I could get him to enjoy his learning if only I was given the time but I was not his only teacher and let’s face it time is not the forte of the school system.
Well, after being called into the school one too many times Chad’s mother had reached her wits end…not with her son Chad, but with the school. “I am paying you to educate my son. It is up to you to find a way to reach him with the school work!”
Not long after that there was an empty seat where Chad used to be. His mother had been politely asked to send him to another school…that would be better suited for him of course.
I never saw Chad again. I missed his exuberant smile and his eager eyes. I missed the joy that he brought to his fellow classmates. I missed his artwork and his creative spirit. I missed my student. He would never know the impact that he had on me. I often think about where he went. What became of him….
Who was Chad? One of the most talented students I had ever taught. That was Chad.
