That Kid With Red Hair 02/03/2005 For many years before I left England and came to the States, I worked with 14 to 16 year olds who had been excluded from school. Yes, that's a nice way of saying they had been expelled. But the truth was that most of them had excluded themselves by not attending for a long time. On average, they had spent two years without seeing the inside of a school building and the minimum was a year. It takes that long or even longer for schools in England to notice that they're missing a kid* and do something about it.Because they had missed so much schooling, all were well behind their age group in literacy, numeracy and social skills. Much of our work with them consisted of trying to improve their skills in these areas whilst attempting to curb the more destructive behavior they had developed over the years. In essence, we were trying to civilize them sufficiently for them to be employable when they reached school leaving age.It was exhausting work but, in most cases, ultimately rewarding. There is nothing quite like the experience of a young man returning to see you after a year or two and thanking you for what he learned while under your care. There was one lad in particular who surprised me more than any other.Charlie (not his real name) was a picture of good behavior when we first interviewed him prior to accepting him as a student. He was chubby, with a broad grin and pleasant manners, and his hair was as red as an Italian racing car. We accepted him without qualm.It soon became apparent that Charlie was not quite what he had led us to believe. From day one he was loud, mischievous and took little notice of authority. This was fairly normal in the kids we worked with; they were either quite sure that they would run the show and made that clear from the start, or they were silent, withdrawn and morose. Charlie soon proved to be more of a handful than most, however.Whenever there was trouble in the building (which we shared with several adult learning projects), Charlie was the one found to be the root cause. His shocking ginger hair made him easily identifiable and I came to dread the words, "Don't know his name but it was the one with the red hair."Part of my strategy when dealing with the kids was to treat them as adults, even when they were not behaving like them. After every incident I would talk to the kids responsible and explain to them why their behavior caused problems for everyone else as well as themselves and, of course, they would agree and promise never to do it again. Charlie was a past master at this game. He would nod and agree and express his remorse, using his great powers of charm to escape retribution. Five minutes later he'd be caught doing something equally stupid.Charlie was with us for two years and, in that time, I think I aged ten. He was a constant worry. On occasion I had to suspend him from the project for a few days in the hope of moderating his behavior. Suspension was the ultimate weapon and was surprisingly effective. The kids hated not being allowed to attend. For some reason that I have still not fathomed, they loved being in the project and would arrive an hour early and then have to be forced out of the door at closing time. Charlie was no exception and he would rage and cry on those occasions when he had left me with no option other than suspension. And always, for a few days after his return, he would be the model student, working diligently and staying out of trouble.Then the pattern would return and he would go back to his old ways. In his second year with us, there seemed to be a fashion amongst the kids for breaking into cars and driving them until they crashed or were stopped by the police. Charlie fancied himself an expert at this game. He professed not to notice that he was always the one who got caught and it did not seem to enter his mind that his red hair was a dead give away. We explained this to him several times and suggested that he give up the game, handicapped in his appearance as he was but, no, Charlie was determined that he was going to be the greatest car thief the world had ever known.In spite of all this, Charlie did well on the more academic side. He was quick and intelligent, often taking much less time to complete work than did the others. I succeeded in pushing him hard enough to obtain some qualifications before he left the project.And we all heaved a great sigh of relief when Charlie's last day was over and he sallied forth into the big, bad world to earn his fortune. I did not expect to see him again, considering that his temptation towards car theft would end with him in jail for long periods.It was over a year later that a pleasant young man wandered into the project and asked to see me. He was tall, well built and immaculately dressed. I glanced at him and wondered what this fellow wanted with me and he stared back with an amused expression on his face. It was only when he spoke, asking whether I recognized him, that I saw it was a new version of Charlie.We sat with him for an hour in the canteen while he told us of all that had happened since he left the project. He had found employment and was doing well, enrolling on a course of study to better himself further. He was saving money and was able to buy many of the things he had always wanted, including the smart clothes he was wearing.We listened but with only half an ear, still amazed at the transformation in him. And, when he thanked us for what we had done for him, I wondered what that could have been. But he made it clear. All that time, when we had been led such a merry dance by him and nearly despaired of his ever amounting to anything, he had been listening and learning. When the time came to be an adult, he had risen to the challenge and grown up overnight.Charlie was the greatest surprise of them all.
--ooOoo--* Many people don't like the word "kid" when applied to a child or teenager, pointing out that the word means a young goat. But I like it as a word for the kids I worked with because they were not children, nor were they adults. They were something in between and "teenager" is too much of a mouthful to repeat continually. So I shall use the word throughout this article, like it or not. It won't be the first word in the English language with more than one meaning, after all.
Clive
Jodie A surprise in all the best ways! Date Added: 02/03/2005
Gone Away Tell you one thing, Jodie: it's much nicer remembering those days than actually being in them! :D Date Added: 02/03/2005
Jodie I hear you on that -- I spent a year teaching middle school. Right after that I started working with severely ill adults with schizophrenia...the adults were much saner in so many ways...and at least they listened. Date Added: 02/03/2005
Gone Away I hear that too, Jodie. It was a learning experience, however. (and how!) Date Added: 02/03/2005
Rusty School sucks, and I'm not just saying that because I am a student. I hate the way they teach things, basic memorization and recitation, with no real focus on analysis. I believe analysis is one of the key elements we need to derive from our educations. Didn't mean to make this into a rant... but yeah. I probably wouldn't be in high school right now if I didn't have a feeling that I had wasted so much of my life on it, I might as well finish it. Date Added: 02/03/2005
Gone Away As good a reason to finish as any, Rusty. You're right about analysis - when I was at school that followed later but we were ready for it long before. Date Added: 02/03/2005
keeefer I sympathise with 'Charlie'. I hated school (though in truth that was just an outlet for my anger at my parents divorce .....ahhhh the benefits of hindsight) and consequently never attended it (save for drama lessons). I was a bright student though and so my absences really frustrated the teachers who genuinely want to help kids better themnselves (as opposed to the ones who are so jaded by their experience they just want to punish you for turning up). I discovered that the key to not being reported 'truant' was to make a teachers life hell when you were there. This worked so well that one day my mother called the school to say i needed to come home for some reason or other (i forget what now) and was told that i had been off ill for 3 weeks......Neither party was pleased and i arrived home to the exploding parent from hell. I vowed never to regret those days and to be honest i really don't. I would like to have got better qualifications but like 'Charlie' i have applied myself and am relatively successful. Thanks for that one Gone, you have bought a host of memories flooding back to me. Date Added: 02/03/2005
Gone Away Hey, no problem, Keef. And I can vouch for every word Keef says there - he was off truanting with Mad! Date Added: 02/03/2005
keeefer I thought i'd leave that out, not knowing what Mads reputations like here :) Ivve updated my blog today too! sheesh its becoming like a routine Date Added: 02/03/2005
Gone Away Routine? I thought it was slavery... Date Added: 02/03/2005
Mad Dad, I have no idea how you did that job (doesn't seem the right word somehow), especially considering what I know of Coventry's "yoofs." You did an amazing thing there. Keef. When did my best friend become so insightful? Often over the years your clarity of vision has caught me off guard and so it does again. I wonder if you know how those who loved you in school worried about you? It was like watching a car veering on the edge of control, about to crash any minute but somehow never quite hitting anything. Of course there were two things those who knew you could do: wash their hands of you or join in the ride. Ahh that was a fun ride my friend... :> Remember when we spent two weeks going to Cov swimming pool every day? We must have been the fittest truants in England. Date Added: 02/03/2005
Gone Away Looking back, I know how I did it Mad; it's how I survived to tell the tale that mystifies me. ;) And I will quietly pretend not to notice your third paragraph... Date Added: 02/03/2005
Way And what a lucky kid he was, Gone. And Mad, thanks for the tips at the end here...I even almost understand the instructions. Date Added: 02/03/2005
Gone Away Actually, that was exactly what he had going for him, Way. He was darned lucky, always fell on his feet... Date Added: 02/03/2005
Keeefer Thanks for that Mad. I was too busy careering all over the road to worry about what my friends thought :) (luckily i wasnt driving a porsche hey ;) ) Ahhhh Cov baths, that was a fun 2 weeks. Do you recall smoking hash in the cinema when we had it to ourselves? Date Added: 03/03/2005
Ned Excellent story. The writing is always excellent of course, the subject matter heartwarming. It is nice to think that even in the worst jobs, struggling to beat the odds, even dealing with what may be for the most part hopeless situations, that in some way we may find that all our efforts have not been for naught. Even if only one kid found his way to a better future, all your effort was worth it. Every life touches another in some way. We just don't always have the fruit of our labors come back to visit. You are very lucky in that. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Ned Oh and maybe I ought to mention that I was one of the least frequent visitors to my school when I was in high school. It was not for love of truancy or high adventure, it was simply a hatred of school. Perhaps they need to make school more interesting and we would have fewer deciding to leave there. Date Added: 03/03/2005
keeefer What a bunch of retrobates we were :) Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away You are quite right, Ned even one would have made it worthwhile. But we actually had many come back to thank us. We must have been doing something right because the majority of the kids went on to live fairly normal lives and managed to hold a job down. That was the best part of the job; when they returned as civilized human beings. ;) Although each one of them was different and had different reasons for hating schools, in general they separated into two types - the bullied and the untameables. The bullied ones were easiest to work with , even though they were totally withdrawn at first, because they responded eventually to caring treatment and then began to blossom. The untameables could go either way: either they voluntarily limited the extremes of their behavior after persuasion or they ended up in jail. Of course, the reasons for these kids ending up the way they were are many and various, but I won't go into that. Suffice to say that I have heard tales of family backgrounds that would make your hair stand on end. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away .oO(must keep pretending not to notice Keef's and Mad's posts at the moment...)c Date Added: 03/03/2005
keeefer ahhhhhhh Gone, im holding back on the really bad ones ;) Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away Admirable restraint, Keef... :> Date Added: 03/03/2005
Jodie I loved school. But that was mostly because they ran out of things to teach me in the most of the classes by about 8th grade...and they didn't know what else to do with me...so I got to spend the days in the library, reading. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away Wow, Jodie, what an idyllic existence! I was indifferent to school; some days I disliked it, others it wasn't too bad. It was just one of those things you had to do so you did... Date Added: 03/03/2005
josh Am I the only one noticing a pronounced lag in scroll for this page nowadays? Maybe I am harrucernatin again, but I swear a week or so ago it was much easier to scroll around on this here firefox browser contraption. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Mad That was my best ever visit to a cinema! The funny thing about those days is, who was the only one of us to get expelled? Me! The good one. Oi! No laughing at the back there. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Mad Josh your puters fooked... :> Date Added: 03/03/2005
glenniah Thanks for a great story Gone, and a social commentary also. One of the best things about working with young people is that sometimes someone comes back and says Hey it worked I'm ok with my life. A good word might be teen-angst, but kids is cool with me, glenni Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away Thanks, Glenni. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Harvey Young As one that truly hated high school I can understand the value of having teachers like you. In my own case it was not for a lack of ability that I hated school, but for a lack of concerned and committed professionals that cared about my education. I always found that I learned faster and better on my own. I think that there is no greater purpose than to be able to have a positive impact on the life of a child. Your story tells us all that you have done this in a way that may not have been noticed, and I am willing to bet that there are many more Charlies in your experience. Date Added: 03/03/2005
Gone Away Just a few, Harvey, just a few. ;) Date Added: 03/03/2005
keeefer Mad, it is lagging Date Added: 03/03/2005
Josh Amen. So I'm not insane and/or the owner of 3 crappy computers. Date Added: 04/03/2005
Gone Away Dunno, Josh. Keef probably is insane and, for all I know, is the owner of three crappy computers too... Date Added: 04/03/2005
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