A few years ago, I was in the teacher’s lounge, feeling exhausted. A middle school teacher (my school is preschool through 8th grade) asked how things were going, and I told her all about how difficult my kids were being. I then asked her how she was doing, and she told me, “I’m really depressed. My 8th graders are starting to have sex, and I can’t stop them from being so stupid.”
That silenced me. Nothing on a bad day in preschool is quite like that.
This Friday started out inauspiciously, with a migraine at 5:30 am. When the kids arrived off the buses I still felt pretty bad. Then I saw something I’d never seen before at any school I’ve ever worked at: a pregnant student.
I asked around, and she is in 8th grade, but is 16 and really should have moved on to the high school. Still. She’s in 8th grade and she’s pregnant.
I had a hollow feeling inside me all day.
I understand your grief. As a high school teacher, even in a school known for having quality students, we occasionally have some issues with student behavior. For the first time this year, we have had a student bringing drugs to school, and it turned out also to be an 8th grader who bought them from a 10th grader here at our school. It is so sad because you know that students make these choices for a variety of reasons. For a girl, it points to a lack of security and a desperate need to feel loved in some way. How sad!
How very sad. Makes me worry for my children who are rapidly approaching those uncertain teen years.