An Upsetting Tutoring Experience

Today was upsetting. I haven’t done much tutoring lately and agreed to work with a student in an alternative setting. He hadn’t been in school since last April or May, and only returned a month ago. I think he’s been in an alternative setting for years. Part of the time (4 hours!) was to be spent on the English Regents that he will take in June. The rest of the time, he was expected to read, discuss, and answer questions on a short story for English class. He’s in 12th grade. 

I decided to work on the Regents argument essay with him, since we’d been delving into argument in the graduate class I teach for preservice teachers. I chose the argument essay from the January 2024 Regents. Should English curriculum focus on the classics? That was the question raised. There were 4 texts on this topic, discussing choice versus canon and the merits of diverse books, and giving students the tools to question classic literature. As an English teacher I found this to be a compelling topic. So I proceeded to ask him questions about the kind of books he’s read and liked. He came up blank. He was without names for any books he’s ever read. 

“Well, did you read Of Mice and Men? The Outsiders? The Great Gatsby? Catcher in the Rye? Romeo and Juliet?

He stared at me. “I think maybe that mice men thing you mentioned.”

“Well, do you read on your own at all?”

“I read Cartel,” he said.

“Okay, what is that about?”

“Guns, drugs, sex, that kind of thing.”

So I attempt to direct him to Text 1: “The Reading Wars: Choice vs. Canon.” In it, the author discusses March, the graphic novel by John Lewis which is about the civil rights movement. I loved John Lewis, I met him in DC, and he spoke at the community college where I was teaching. I talked a little about John Lewis, but he was not interested. He never heard of him. He barely got through the first article, and constantly, and I mean constantly, looked at his phone. 

He was pretty much done after the first text. It was over. With his headphones on, and his phone serving as his teacher, he tuned me out. I spoke to the person in charge who said he was a difficult student. She said he shouldn’t have the headphones on, and would come by to let him know that, but she never did. I asked many times for him to put the phone down. (I noticed other students in other spaces constantly on their phones as well. Not many rules here.)

“You won’t be able to use your phone when you take the Regents.”

“But I’m not taking the Regents now,” he noted, somewhat angrily.

And that was that. 

I felt really sad when I left.  I don’t know his history, his back story, how he got this way. But there was something so missing in him.

 I will not be back.