... of too much information.

The longer I teach, the more that I find I get involved and (sadly) interested in the high school drama that is constantly unfolding around me. I have a student who is more like a little sister than a student. I actually have never had her in a class. She has been a part of the extracurricular theatre program, so there's a little less of a boundary there than there is with my normal students. She supplies me with all of my information. She is wonderfully (and yet horribly) uninhibited and she will tell me anything.

So tonight I not only found out about the relationships that I suspected, but also found out that the children are drinking. And now I have a little inkling of what it's like to be a parent of a teenager. I mean, I did that stuff when I was 18. And I knew that it was wrong. I was a bit more restrained than most of these kids are, though, so I am a bit worried. And how do you say: "Don't do what I did." Especially when you are NOT a parent that they sometimes "hate", but you are teacher that they actually look up to? If I say, "I did this, don't do it", to them, that means "Shockley did it a she's fine...". How do you actually influence them in a positive way?

The things that I did when I was young didn't end up being extremely detrimental and I am actually glad that God put me through some experiences that made me able to identify with them, but you don't want to tell them that. You don't want to say: "I did that, but I'm fine. But don't do it". When you tell kids (people) that they can't do something, they want to do it all the more. That's why I don't like the pressure of being their teacher. If I am actually honest with them, then I could be implicating myself in high school activities that I am not proud of.

I just pray that Jesus will reach them someday like he reached me, and all of those experiences that scared their teachers will be the thing that God uses to bring them into right relationship with Him.

Praying. Constantly praying.

Comments

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