Via Block Club Chicago, this rather remarkable story:
HUMBOLDT PARK — A week after their teacher left, the students were growing restless.
Despite promises that a permanent new teacher was coming, students in the sophomore-level chemistry class at Roberto Clemente Community Academy were sitting in their classroom with little to do. Though a substitute teacher was assigned to the room, the students quickly concluded that he didn’t know much about chemistry.
Carolina Carchi was struck by the reaction of one of her classmates: “They forgot about us.”
“When I heard that, this spark and passion grew in me,” Carolina said. She told herself: “No, you’re not going to be left out, they didn’t forget about you, and I’m going to be here to prove that.”
The following day, the 15-year-old got up in front of the class and began to teach her peers about the properties of liquids and solids and how to balance chemical equations.
Carolina went on to teach the class for two months during the winter of her sophomore year. A permanent teacher didn’t take over the classroom until the following fall.
I sense this staffing problem happened in either 2021 or 2022, which was a weirder time in the employment market. Nevertheless, students should have qualified teachers, and this was clearly not the case here.
Ms. Carchi is now a high school senior. Here's hoping she considers a career in either chemistry or teaching.
My high school Spanish teacher gave notice of planned surgery months ahead of time in hopes that the district would find a qualified substitute. Of course they didn't, and we got stuck doing word-search puzzles all day with a glorified babysitter watching us. A parent volunteered to come in and teach the class, and wasn't allowed to do so because she wasn't a certified teacher. This is exactly why the school couldn't have gotten a parent, retired chemist or chemistry professor, etc to fill in - it had to be a certified teacher putting on movies or passing out Xeroxed word-search puzzles due to well-meaning regulations. I've never seen a substitute actually teach after middle school.
ReplyDeleteAs a father, I'd be both incredibly proud and upset. Proud that my child was skilled and confident enough to command a chemistry classroom of her peers. Upset because I'd be paying taxes on services not received while my child worked without pay.
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