You Deserve Nothing - Alexander Maksik [20]
“I’m Mr. Silver.”
Other students began to trickle in. He smiled at the ones who acknowledged him and ignored the ones who didn’t.
He continued to write in his grade book until there were ten of us there. Nobody spoke. Nobody seemed to know anyone else. The bell rang. He kept writing. He made us wait. Then he looked up and read our names from his book. After each of our names he smiled or nodded or said hello.
Then, after he’d finished, he pushed himself off his desk and stood.
“So, welcome to Senior Seminar. For those of you who don’t know me, and it looks as if we have a lot of new students here, my name is Mr. Silver. Two facts are important: you’re all seniors. You have elected to be here.
“I’ll assume that you will be responsible, engaged, active, and enthusiastic members of this group. We will meet here every morning for approximately one hour, four days a week for nine months. That’s a lot of time. It is also no time at all.
“I will not, as I do for my tenth graders, give you a list of rules and expectations. I have no papers for you. No list of supplies. What you need to know is not complicated.
“As I mentioned before, the class is a seminar. I take this seriously. We will sit here every day and discuss literature. What that means will be up to you. I gauge the success of our class by the amount of talking I do. If I’m compelled to speak often then I will consider the class a failure. If I speak little then it is a success.
“Your own success will be based on three factors—the quality of your participation, the quality of your writing, and your enthusiasm for both.
“I would like not to give quizzes or tests of any kind. If, however, I believe that you’re not reading what I ask you to read I will provide you with the kind of tests I give to my younger students. I will begin the year by treating each of you as adults. This means that you may use whatever language you like. You may express whatever opinions you have. You may refer to your personal experience. As long as you demonstrate an enthusiasm for the work we’re doing here you’re free to express yourselves as you wish.
“There are several exceptions. I will not tolerate cruelty to or disrespect of other students. I will not tolerate bigotry. I will not tolerate rudeness, bullying, or violence of any kind. Outside of those restrictions, you’re free. Freedom. A problem we’ll talk about in more depth later. What you say in this room will remain here. I will not discuss what you say with anyone else—not your parents, not other students, not faculty.
“Again, there are exceptions. If you indicate that you’re planning to harm yourself or someone else I will not keep that information private. If you indicate that you’re a victim of abuse I will not keep that information private. If you indicate that you have broken the law or plan to break the law I may not keep that information private.
“Outside of these exceptions you have my word that I will keep your secrets.
“I will expect you to arrive in class prepared, having done the work I’ve asked you to do. I take for granted that you are intelligent men and women capable of independent thought and that you are here because you want to be. Why you want to be here is a question we’ll deal with later in the year but I absolutely do not accept the notion that you’re here against your will.”
A slight, compact, red haired kid raised his hand.
Mr. Silver coolly looked him in the eye until he put his hand down.
“I will answer any questions you have at the end of class. I’d like to finish first. Ideally we will arrive here each morning and forget, for an hour, that there is a world outside the classroom. However, I’ve been teaching long enough to know that this will not always be the case. The world will enter the classroom. You’ll become angry with me. You’ll disagree. You’ll be bored. You’ll be infuriated. And I may be as well. I expect all of that. But at least now you know my dream.”
He smiled.
“To arrive here excited. That’s what I want, for all of us to arrive