Re: student's dreams

[Judi Hirsch <judih@OUSD.K12.CA.US>]

Hi Karen,
    What I didn;t say about this young man would fill a chapter in the book I hope to write. His older brother is in prison for murder and his younger brother was expelled from elementary school. There were times when his father called the police every day because my student wouldn't listen to him. He has been arrested for diving a stolen car--maybe he was 14. The family has been through the "killing fields" and I understand that 70% of Cambodians are in some way dependent upon us--for welfare, in jail, etc--more than any other group of immigrants. I would say that I never ever had such a struggle with any student in the past 30+ years I've been teaching. I once even tried to get him transferred because I just was not able to help him at all. What I'm trying to say is that if this is lurking inside of him, then there's much more under the surface of all of our teens and if we treat them well--lovingly and with a lot of support--then we'll get the real people who are there to show themselves and shine. This cannot happen with standardized tests.
thanks for listening and tell your daughter not to give up.
Judi
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Karen Canty 
  To: ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU 
  Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2000 12:54 PM
  Subject: Re: student's dreams


  Judi,
   
  Thanks for sharing this with all of us.  Sometimes I think we forget, in the heat of the moment, what victories there are out there and so we all need to be reminded that "victory" can be defined in lots of different ways.  And, I also agree with your response to the person who wrote about "we can all be Einstein."  I think the problem is that we THINK we have defined how to find the "Einsteins" or the "Michael Jordans" and unfortunately,in lots of places, it is believed that standardized tests will do that. I actually had a conversation with my 20 year old daughter about teaching kids in different ways, using different instruments to evaluate them, etc. so that MORE students (I didn't even use the word ALL) would be successful.  She looked at me and said, "Oh mom that sounds so good, but it will never happen."  I, of course, asked "why?" and her response surprised me.  She said, "Because mom there are people in charge who got there by doing better on tests, by "winning" as the system defines "winning" and they don't want to let anybody else in - unless they've "won" too"  Pretty cynical, I thought, for a 20 year old, but the more I see and the more regimented we become and the harder and harder it gets to qualify for college, I am beginning to believe that she is at least partially correct. And how do we fight that?  I don't have a clue, yet, but maybe the fight over standardization will help start the discussion at least.  I for one certainly hope so, which is why I continue to be pleased that more and more discussion is going on around testing and what's it's really doing - or not doing.  Joan Ryan's column in the Chronicle, that Monty put on the list, is only one of many that have been published in recent weeks - just questioning what's going on.  We had a parent  come to our school board meeting a few weeks ago - at my instigation - to talk about her concern about testing in the early grades.  We had only been hearing from parents who were "concerned" about our schools' comparability ratings  and I wanted to make certain that the rest of the board heard another voice.  So, little steps are being taken and I feel gratified by that.  Anyway, that took a long time to say to keep doing what you're doing - for as long as you can - cause it's obviously working.
   
  Karen Canty
    -----Original Message-----
    From: Assessment Reform Network Mailing List [mailto:ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU]On Behalf Of Judi Hirsch
    Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2000 7:40 PM
    To: ARN-L@LISTS.CUA.EDU
    Subject: student's dreams


    Dear All,

    It is with great pride and tears in my eyes that I share this with you. The student who wrote this piece as part of his graduation requirements at our school has been with me for six years. We have changed each other's lives.

    When I met him he was in worse shape than any other student I ever had. His life is very hard and yet he represents all that I ever wanted for any of the young people I work with to know-

    a very humble and proud Judi

     

     

    100 Things I Will Do In My Life

     

    1.  Get a high school diploma

     

    2.  Go to college

     

    3.  Go on a job interview

     

    4   Get job training

     

    S.  Get a job

     

    6.  Buy a car

     

    7.  Find a girlfriend

     

    8.  Get married

     

    9.  Raise a family, have two children

     

    10. Go to Cambodia.

     

    11. Become a famous, intelligent Cambodian artist

     

    12. Get some computer games and hip hop CDs 

     

    13. Cut my hair like a gentleman

     

    14. Get my nails done

     

    15. Buy a tuxedo

     

    * * *

     

    16. I will build a big house.

     

    17. I will have my own acre so my family can plant their crops

     

    18. My farm will raise pigs, cows, chickens, and horses.

     

    19. I'm going to have a lot of fun.

     

    20.  I'm about to help OUT Poor People

     

    21. Make art

     

    22. Teach art

     

    23. Make a wonderful art pieces                                          

                   

    24. Learn to read

     

    25. Learn about computers

     

    26. Teach other kids who have learning disabilities just like me

     

                      * * *

     

    27. Go back to my country

     

    28. Help my country

     

    29. Make things

     

    30. Build a house down in Cambodia

     

    31. Make a school down in Cambodia

     

    32. Find out more about Cambodia

     

    33. Run a business in Cambodia

     

                      * * *

     

    34. Swim

     

    35. Run

     

    36. Jog

     

    37. Be outdoors on the mountainside

     

    38. Travel. Go to Marine World, Disneyland, Great America, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Seattle, New York, wherever, all around the world. The more you travel, the more people you meet, and you can change the world.

     

    39. I WANT TO CHANGE THE WORLD, make it a safe place.

     

    40. Change police brutality

     

    41. Change the Mayor of Oakland

     

    42. Help youth with activities. Give them a place to be where they can grow up

     to be who they really are, not punk "gang-bangers"

     

    43. Play football and volleyball

     

    44. Go on a waterslide

     

    45. Become a vegetarian

     

    46. Become an art teacher

     

    47. Become a Cambodian bilingual translator

     

                      * * *

     

    48. Become Sotha, the real Sotha; the evil Sotha is gone, the new Sotha  has 

    arrived, the Sotha who is brave and strong and hard-core. 

     

    49. Be a role model for the kids here at Far West.

     

    51. Make a model of the world we will live in, a world that is happy, all 

    living together.

     

    52. My children will be healthy people who grow the seeds of their heritage, 

    raise their culture up, don't abandon who they are, stick with it, work with it

     

    53. My children will tell their children that we want no more war, no more 

    guns or killing. We have had a revolution

     

                      * * *

     

    54. Be a musician, play music, make beats, play guitar and keyboard

     

    55. Spread my wings and fly like a kite and know how to glide

     

    56. Be a role model

     

    57. Be a peacemaker

     

    58. Be a father. My child will have a better life than I had

     

    59. Make changes in my ways

     

    60. Make progress in reading and writing

     

    61. Learn more interesting things, cooler things

     

    62. Become a millionaire

     

    63. Become an artist

     

    64. Become an Asian rapper

     

    65. Become a Khmer leader for my people

     

    66. When I go back to my country, I will change the Army. The kids in an army 

    don't want to kill their own people. You don't have to rob your own kind. You 

    have to stop all that hate and the killing. I'm tired of people killing their own kind; why don't you just stop that. Then my country will be changed a lot.

     

    67. I will teach the American activists who protest and help Cambodia change. 

    We need more organizing. The world will learn to be not just full of greediness; 

    no more "last man standing, wins" idea:  When you are on top you are standing 

    on the poor, your own people.

     

    68. I will go to my country one day and help my people to organize. For example, 

    I will build a healthy place to drink water. My auntie just got back from there and helped with all kinds of projects. If I go to college, and get a degree, then I can go

    to Cambodia and help my people to ORGANIZE!

     

    69. After I learn carpentry, I will teach them to build.

     

    70. I will be the youngest chief.

     

    71. I will be knowledgeable, because knowledge is power, which can bring you

    many things in this world.

     

                      * * *

     

    72. Write.

     

    73. Get my writing published.

     

    74. All the young Cambodians will read my writings. I will teach the young Cambodians how to get by in life. I will tell them: "You have to figure out what 

    is good. You could die at a young age, but wouldn't you rather die old, like me? 

    Do what is right so the people who are still down there will appreciate where you 

    come from. All the Americans want to know your story, who you are, what you 

    want to do in the future. This is your life story. Don't give it up. Rise to the top, 

    like me.

     

    75, Every week I will write my opinions on the world in the newspaper and how

    it can change.

     

                      * * *

     

    76. Let the President know what needs to be done, and that this is not easy to do

    by yourself.

     

    77. I will go to Cambodia and bring food and make roads so the whole 

    population will be better. The Cambodian people don't want to be the next 

    victims of starvation. You know what I'm saying??

     

    78. 1 will have an "education fund". The kids who are bilingual here will go down

    there and teach them how to read and write. I will lead them.

     

    79. I will build my own house.

     

    80. I will build a temple to hold my grandmother's ashes.

     

    81. I will make sure my people are wealthy and that the ancient temples are rebuilt.

     

    82. I will teach my people to be more Americanized. I'll teach English and how to 

    deal with American people, speak English, translate, help them fill out forms.

     

    83. I will take a lot of photos of the people and places of Cambodia. I will take it 

    and then exhibit it as a gallery with all the photos and the stories of peoples.  I 

    will invite people (friends, family and teachers who have been there for me) to my gallery of research to see pictures of a world that is different from their lives here.

     

    84. I will teach people my Cambodian language and about my heritage.

     

    85. I will learn carpentry and get a job doing that.

     

    86. I will try out many jobs.

     

    87. I will learn many skills. The more I can learn, the more things I can do.

     

    88. I will be the most famous Cambodian artist.

     

    89. I will be a local artist dealing with the place I live in, what I hear and experience every day, changing it and making it better.

     

    90. I will build for them (the people who care about me), make things for them, 

    draw for them, publish for them, and they will pay me what I am worth, for who 

    I am.

     

    91. I can only guide my grandchildren. I don't want my people to drop any more tears, or to cry blood on the land, all over the land, until it is flooded with blood. So stop killing each other. I don't just mean Cambodians, but people all over the world.

     

    92. When I am so rich and so popular, I will teach the kids so much and give them so much stuff so they can use so they will turn it into a piece of ART.

     

    93. My family is made of myself and my wife and our two children, who will learn 

    a lot of things about America, like how to speak three different languages so they 

    can be trilingual. They will follow in the footsteps of grandfather and auntie, and organize even more than my auntie did, be leaders over there, live down there for a long time, go to school down there and teach other kids who don't have the money to go to school--EVERYBODY HAS TO HELP EVERYBODY ELSE, OR WE WILL STAY ON THE SAME LEVEL. Know what I mean?

     

     94. I will be an old gray-haired man, sitting on the Mountainside and just reminisce about the past when I was still young. I have many grandchildren. I will sit under a shady tree to talk with my grandchildren, teaching them about the land and the countryside, show them all the beauty that is in the dark inside. Outside you see light 

    but the true beauty of the land is in your heart, deep inside where no man can hide.

     

    95. I will teach my children. I will put together all the pieces of the puzzle of our heritage that was lost somewhere in the deep, deep ocean. The French invaded the country a long time ago when you weren't born yet, so I have to teach you. They stole 

    a lot of our history and tried to ban our culture and they took the ancient bible of the gods and tried to burn it and turn us into a Christian, Catholic culture. They tried to 

    change the real native people into a poor people so they could overpower us and step on us. We fought a long time but the revolution never ended, and so we lost many people who had knowledge, a lot of doctors and people who knew about our world, and now all you see left are hard working people who use their muscles, not their brains. You can change the world if you use your brain. This I will teach them, let them see how many got lost in the countryside. If they can change the world, I will be an old happy man.

     

    96. All the broken pieces of the wall of Cambodia that was destroyed by guns and bombs I will repair.

     

    97. I will work to ban sweatshops so my people won't have to work for ten cents an hour. In a week they get a dollar, that's cheap. I will work to ban cheap labor and children's labor.

     

    98. I will have a big huge celebration, be on TV, telling the whole world that it must change. You can make a change if you just stick with what you have to do, talk about it, and actually do the work to make it really happen.

     

    99. All I gotta say is I really love you.

     

    100. I will die a happy, wise, sad, been-there-done-that, helpful, artistic, BRAVE, struggling, changed, changing, loved, and trusted old man.