Lost Causes
This weekend I watched Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. If you haven't seen it, you should. After it ended, I started thinking about lost causes, about how much people love them, and about the times I've experienced them myself.
Let me tell you a story.
During the beginning of my teaching career, lots of remarkable things happened to me, and I learned from them all. Here's one.
If you are an educator or if you've ever watched an inspirational teacher movie, you know that kids are constantly being given standardized tests. These test are a snapshot judgement of the students, their teachers, and the educational system as a whole. Let me say that I understand the importance of accountability in any endeavor, but most of the time the evaluation system we have in our schools seems unfair to me. In those movies you've probably also seen the scenes where the main character, our outstanding teacher, sits outside the testing area on the verge of a stroke. Those scenes are not an exaggeration. That's exactly how it feels when your students are taking those tests. So much is on the line. Unfortunately, sometimes students don't pass these tests. Of course there are consequences for the teachers and the school.
Students feel those consequences too.
Years ago students in North Carolina needed to pass a basic reading competency test to graduate. The graduation standards have changed since then, but when all this happened, students had to reach a certain percentile and got several chances to pass the test.
In my first years of teaching, I was pretty hopeless. There are stories about that too, but I'll save them for another day. Let's just say that I wasn't exactly the horse you'd place your educational bet on. That year, three seniors were unable to pass this reading test, and they only had one more chance. It was looking pretty grim for those kids. For most people, the test wouldn't be that difficult, but these kids spoke English as a second language. Even with the special considerations allowed for their disadvantages, they'd managed to take the test twice a year since ninth grade, failing every time.
What did the principal do? He came on down to my classroom and asked me to provide the remedial tutoring required by law. He never said as much, obviously, but I can just imagine what he was thinking. "Well, I'll just get this teacher that will probably leave the profession at the end of the year to work with these kids that are probably going to fail this test." Two birds with one stone. Please understand how naive I was then. None of this occurred to me at the time. When the situation was explained to me, I thought, "Well, I've got to figure this out. These kids are counting on me."
The first afternoon we met, I nearly threw up. They were in rough shape. I had several passages that were on the same reading level as the test. We read them together, and even with my help, they were struggling. About that time I started praying for them, and me, several times a day. I needed a miracle. On the second afternoon, I gave them strategies and taught them how to write in their test books. They worked so hard, but I could tell that there just wasn't enough time. That night I sat at my computer and researched reading comprehension sites on the Internet. I came up with a complete list of all the places on the web that would help. On the third afternoon, I held an honest meeting with them. I told them that there was no way I could get them to pass the upcoming test with just the afternoons we had left, and they were pretty crushed.
Then I offered them some hope. I gave them the lists and explained what I wanted them to do -- spend every free moment between then and the test using the sites, practicing. From that point on we went to the library. Instead of leading them as a group, I walked around helping them with the hardest parts.
The day of the test we met up one more time. I reminded them of the strategies we'd talked about and told them I was confident. As soon as they left the room, I prayed for them one more time.
The rest of the day flew as I taught my other students. I knew the results wouldn't be back until the afternoon anyway. I was sitting at my desk with my door propped open when I heard the slapping of tennis shoes in the hallway. All three of them rounded the corner to my room at a full sprint. They burst in beaming and yelling, "WE PASSED! WE ALL PASSED!"
If you've ever coached someone else, you know exactly how I felt as I stood there talking to those kids about that test, the test they'd failed so many times before. It's one thing to succeed yourself, but helping another person succeed is something else entirely. I've never felt anything like it.
You can imagine how the principal and other school staff reacted. They were shocked and gratified to say the least.
The story doesn't end there.
Just a year later I was standing at a local station pumping some gas. On the other side of the parking lot sat a red classic car . It was lovely shining there in the sun. Everybody was staring at it, including me. Then the young guy turned in my direction as he was pumping gas into that stunning car. I realized It was one of those three students! We recognized each other at the same time, and he came over to talk to me. I asked him what he'd been doing since graduation, the teacher-student question I've asked hundreds of times. He told me he was studying to be a mechanic at the local community college. After a few minutes of small talk, he walked away.
That day I learned something important: just because something seems like a lost cause doesn't mean it really is. After all, it isn't over 'til it's over. Right? I kept thinking, "What if he'd failed that test again?" It made me feel so good to know I'd played a part in his success.
Don't get me wrong. Sometimes you have to set boundaries and let things go, but other times you have to refuse to give up. It seems to me that there are times to change the approach to a situation, but hope should always exist where people are concerned. People are always worth loving and investing in. Always.
We all know what it's like to be a lost cause. Romans 5: 6-8 says, "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."
Next time you're tempted to write someone off, open yourself to the possibility of hope for that person instead. Just don't forget where that hope lies -- in the saving grace of God through his son Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let me tell you a story.
During the beginning of my teaching career, lots of remarkable things happened to me, and I learned from them all. Here's one.
If you are an educator or if you've ever watched an inspirational teacher movie, you know that kids are constantly being given standardized tests. These test are a snapshot judgement of the students, their teachers, and the educational system as a whole. Let me say that I understand the importance of accountability in any endeavor, but most of the time the evaluation system we have in our schools seems unfair to me. In those movies you've probably also seen the scenes where the main character, our outstanding teacher, sits outside the testing area on the verge of a stroke. Those scenes are not an exaggeration. That's exactly how it feels when your students are taking those tests. So much is on the line. Unfortunately, sometimes students don't pass these tests. Of course there are consequences for the teachers and the school.
Students feel those consequences too.
Years ago students in North Carolina needed to pass a basic reading competency test to graduate. The graduation standards have changed since then, but when all this happened, students had to reach a certain percentile and got several chances to pass the test.
In my first years of teaching, I was pretty hopeless. There are stories about that too, but I'll save them for another day. Let's just say that I wasn't exactly the horse you'd place your educational bet on. That year, three seniors were unable to pass this reading test, and they only had one more chance. It was looking pretty grim for those kids. For most people, the test wouldn't be that difficult, but these kids spoke English as a second language. Even with the special considerations allowed for their disadvantages, they'd managed to take the test twice a year since ninth grade, failing every time.
What did the principal do? He came on down to my classroom and asked me to provide the remedial tutoring required by law. He never said as much, obviously, but I can just imagine what he was thinking. "Well, I'll just get this teacher that will probably leave the profession at the end of the year to work with these kids that are probably going to fail this test." Two birds with one stone. Please understand how naive I was then. None of this occurred to me at the time. When the situation was explained to me, I thought, "Well, I've got to figure this out. These kids are counting on me."
The first afternoon we met, I nearly threw up. They were in rough shape. I had several passages that were on the same reading level as the test. We read them together, and even with my help, they were struggling. About that time I started praying for them, and me, several times a day. I needed a miracle. On the second afternoon, I gave them strategies and taught them how to write in their test books. They worked so hard, but I could tell that there just wasn't enough time. That night I sat at my computer and researched reading comprehension sites on the Internet. I came up with a complete list of all the places on the web that would help. On the third afternoon, I held an honest meeting with them. I told them that there was no way I could get them to pass the upcoming test with just the afternoons we had left, and they were pretty crushed.
Then I offered them some hope. I gave them the lists and explained what I wanted them to do -- spend every free moment between then and the test using the sites, practicing. From that point on we went to the library. Instead of leading them as a group, I walked around helping them with the hardest parts.
The day of the test we met up one more time. I reminded them of the strategies we'd talked about and told them I was confident. As soon as they left the room, I prayed for them one more time.
The rest of the day flew as I taught my other students. I knew the results wouldn't be back until the afternoon anyway. I was sitting at my desk with my door propped open when I heard the slapping of tennis shoes in the hallway. All three of them rounded the corner to my room at a full sprint. They burst in beaming and yelling, "WE PASSED! WE ALL PASSED!"
If you've ever coached someone else, you know exactly how I felt as I stood there talking to those kids about that test, the test they'd failed so many times before. It's one thing to succeed yourself, but helping another person succeed is something else entirely. I've never felt anything like it.
You can imagine how the principal and other school staff reacted. They were shocked and gratified to say the least.
The story doesn't end there.
Just a year later I was standing at a local station pumping some gas. On the other side of the parking lot sat a red classic car . It was lovely shining there in the sun. Everybody was staring at it, including me. Then the young guy turned in my direction as he was pumping gas into that stunning car. I realized It was one of those three students! We recognized each other at the same time, and he came over to talk to me. I asked him what he'd been doing since graduation, the teacher-student question I've asked hundreds of times. He told me he was studying to be a mechanic at the local community college. After a few minutes of small talk, he walked away.
That day I learned something important: just because something seems like a lost cause doesn't mean it really is. After all, it isn't over 'til it's over. Right? I kept thinking, "What if he'd failed that test again?" It made me feel so good to know I'd played a part in his success.
Don't get me wrong. Sometimes you have to set boundaries and let things go, but other times you have to refuse to give up. It seems to me that there are times to change the approach to a situation, but hope should always exist where people are concerned. People are always worth loving and investing in. Always.
We all know what it's like to be a lost cause. Romans 5: 6-8 says, "When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. 7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."
Next time you're tempted to write someone off, open yourself to the possibility of hope for that person instead. Just don't forget where that hope lies -- in the saving grace of God through his son Jesus, and the power of the Holy Spirit.
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