Open Set

Here is a post from my blog from July 16, 2019.

Met someone in a coffee shop today. She noticed the quote on my shirt: “Don’t let school
get in the way of your education.” I mentioned that I was trying to write up a statistics
course that let the kids do some good digging and exploration on their own. She gave
me some really good ideas: first, I should actually do the research project that I’m going
to ask the students to do, and show them my work, and be honest about my difficulties.
They will be more willing to admit their own difficulties when they see mine. Not a
bad ideas!
We got to talking – she is also a middle school math teacher. But the most interesting
thing she told me was not about school at all, it was about helping kids in find their
way in the community. The story went like this:
I walked by a group of three girls sitting out in front of the high school this morning. I
passed by two hours later and they were still there. I asked them, “What are you doing
here? You’ve just been sitting here for two hours. Do any of you have a job?” They said
no. So I walked them over to CVS and I made sure they all got jobs. They were asking,
“Who are you anyway?” But I just said, “No, doesn’t matter who I am. You need a job.
And this is not free – there is one more thing you need to do. You need to put half of
your paycheck in a savings account.”
Wow. I hope that is a true story. But either way, it’s sure an inspirational one!