The day some of my students became wannabe Earth Firsters and potential anarchists.

[Are_grits_groceries]

I taught 9th grade Earth Science for many years. Most people shriek or hold up the sign of the cross when I tell them the grade. That age is supposedly the hardest to teach. As for me, keep the tykes away.

Earth Science is an interesting mix of other subjects. The courses I taught covered meteorology, paleontology, environmental issues, topography, rocks & minerals, earthquakes and so on and so on. it was so broad that if an interesting topic came up, we usually discussed it. I'm sure explaining the relevance of the origins of WWI to ES would have been a test of my imagination if I had to expain. If the students were serious about discussing a topic, we spent some time on it. Not a lot if it was waaaaay beyond ES, but some.

At any rate, I was always trying to find real world examples that did pertain to ES that I could use in class. I came across a story about a dispute between NC and TN. There was a river that flowed through both of them. In one state, there was a a paper mill on the river that caused pollution. People in that area depended on that plant because jobs were few and far between. Downriver in NC, the pollution was ruining the tourist industry that had begun to thrive. That was the only source of good jobs in that area. Needless to say, the 2 states were having fun sorting it out.

In my classes, I explained the situation. I tried to give them a good idea of the seriousness of the situation on both sides. Then I divided the classes into 2 groups. One group represented the plant workers and the other the tourist industry workers. They were going to discuss the situation in their groups and then meet with the other group to try to work out a solution. They could send representatives to meet with the other group or meet as a whole. That was up to them. I was curious to see how it developed.

So they got in their groups and talked a while. Most of them were taking it seriously, and I kept an eye on the schleppers to makes sure they weren't disruptive. A schlepper could really be paying attention. After a while, they arranged the seats for the meeting. I had the final say on any issues that had to be refereed.

They met and it seemed to be going well. For 10 minutes. Suddenly, they were up and screaming at each other about their problems and whatever. It wasn't a charade. They were well and truly pissed at each other. I calmed them down and told them to regroup and try to come up with ideas that they could agree on and present to the other group. they went to neutral corners for a while and then met gain.

Once more it degenerated into a verbal melee. In the midst of this as I was getting ready to intervene, 2 of the girls in the tourist grop came over. They were the attractive, cheerleader types. That isn't an insult, just a mental image. They were smart as whips, but sadly sometimes they tried to hide it. So they cheerily bopped on over and just as cherrily asked me if they could blow up the plant.

I just raised one eyebrow and asked them how they would go about it. I had taught long enough not to react to anything except spurting blood. they told me that if nobody in their group knew how that they would hire somebody. I didn't ask who in their group might possess such knowledge, but in hindsight maybe I should have.

I told them no. That wasn't an acceptable solution. I also told them at some point in the next week I wanted a short paper on the penalties for committing that particular felony. If you want to do the deed, you need to know some of the consequences.

The groups never did reach an agreement. They had to write a summation of what they learned. Most of them said that they learned it wasn't easy to solve problems. I thought that was a fairly good lesson.

I learned something too. You never know where anarchy will pop up.

[apnu]

1. Interesting story. Thanks (nt)

[Are_grits_groceries]

2. It was never dull. nt

[hootinholler]

3. Points for creativity

Not really an anarchist solution though, is it?

[Are_grits_groceries]

4. Depends on where else their active little minds

were going to go. I think blowing up the plant is close. That's why I said potential.

[Marrah_G]

5. I love your way of teaching

My genius IQ son lacked motivation his first couple years of HS. Then one day he came home and said " I'm going to get better grades, I do not want to be poor". I said, " ummm what". (we are poor) He said " We did a project in school about how much things cost and how much money you need to live on your own. I don't want to be poor"

Jet ahead a few years, Son joined the USAF guard at age 17, complete with top secret clearance, 20k bonus, college paid for, entered the University as a sophomore, 2nd in his class in the Math department, is working on a transfer to WPI for their Aerospace engineering program so someday he can be part of our journey into space.

This from a kid who was failing and then along came a teacher who used creativity and flicked on a switch in his mind.

Thank you for teaching!!!!!!!

[Are_grits_groceries]

6. Well, I wondered if those kids were going to end up as

Patty Hearsts or Erin Andrews. I haven't seen their names in the news.