It’s the Little Things that Matter Most

I went to high school in Vermont, where winters are cold, snowy, and icy.  School delays and snow days are common for February, and I always know when my hometown is having bad weather because I will see hundreds of “Snow day tomorrow!??!” posts on Facebook.  But just yesterday I saw some posts that were really quite disturbing to me. Students at my old high school were ranting about school still being in session. They were publicly posting things such as “Our superintendent is so stupid for making us come to school” and “I don’t care, I’m having my own snow day.”  These posts were coming from students at one of the better, more reputable, high schools in my state! I was so shocked to see that these students, many of whom are seniors and will be going to excellent colleges next year, have become so disillusioned by the public school system and are so unappreciative of the quality education they are privileged to receive.

And this problem is appearing in increasingly younger age groups, especially within the realm of public schools.  Many students are uninspired by the ways of the system and are uninterested in learning.  And what scares me is that I have already seen signs of this jadedness in my Jumpstart preschool classroom.  Yes, there are some, but not many, children in my classroom who will sit in Circle Time and pretend that nothing is happening or will walk away from their Corps Member during Reading and not even the teacher can make them sit through the book.  These children aren’t interested, or they would rather explore and learn things on their own.  And for these children, I get excited about even the smallest signs of interest and improvement.  During session last week one of these infamous children got so overwhelmingly excited to see their name written on their name card.  Hearing this boy exclaim, “B! That’s for me! And B is for Batman!” was so rewarding to me. In fact, it reassured me that Jumpstart is making a difference in the lives of our preschool children, and I can only hope that their interest in learning will continue to thrive throughout their schooling careers.

~Maia Plesant

Team Leader

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