The Dark Horse in the Dictionary

Jaime was 22 years old and in my classroom for reasons unknown. It was a course in a program that was sponsored by Jackson County for retraining people under 45 years old who had lost their jobs for one reason or another.

I was asked to teach the class mainly because the junior college’s full-time teachers refused to do so, and because I was the only student in the school who had a bachelor’s degree.

The classwork was ill-defined because it was an extra class that was offered just for some students to gain educational units. I wasn’t expected to do much actual teaching, just give out passing grades to all of them, no matter what they did.

Crystal Junior College was paid by the county to re-train people who either could not, or would not, work at their current job. Most of them had “back pain”, or “trauma from dealing with people at work”, or they fell off their chair or out of the bus they were driving. A lot of them genuinely wanted to re-train for a new job, but some did not. Those people were in the program because they wouldn’t receive county money or help if they didn’t get a retraining certificate from the subsidized program in the junior college.

My job was to teach a class in basic writing and math, which I knew meant that the students had been under-educated and were less likely to obtain even medium level positions in the job market. Jaime was a good example of why my class was required.

The classroom had a typical layout with student desks in rows, a blackboard, a desk up front facing the class, and surprisingly, a very large dictionary on a pedestal next to the instructor’s desk. I wondered what it was doing in the classroom.

On the second day of class, which was a Monday, Jaime left his seat during a break and meandered over to the pedestal by my desk. He stood there slowly turning the pages of the dictionary. I didn’t think much about it except that he was awfully still.

Some students brushed past him, and he seemed not to notice. He just stood transfixed while looking at the huge book in front of him. A girl in the class named Gail came up behind him and said, “What are you looking for?”

Jaime was startled and replied, “Look! This has words in it, and explanations, like this one says ‘horse’ and talks about a horse!”

Gail said, “Yeah, cool.”

Jaime paused and said, “It actually describes a dark horse!” His eyes were wide. He waved his hands in the air and turned to Gail, while pointing at the book. She peered over his shoulder.

I was frozen in place at my desk as I contemplated the scene. No wonder they’re in this class.

On the one hand, I felt a surge of joy that they had discovered a dictionary, and at the same time I felt fury at an education system that allowed them to graduate high school without having such basic knowledge. What kind of schooling did they have? I can’t believe I am feeling happy for them discovering a dictionary at their age! What happened to them? Who dropped the ball in their education? They don’t even know that their lives will forever be changed from this day forward.

I shook my head. And, at that moment, I noticed a gauze bandage loosely wound around Jaime’s right hand. Unfortunately, even though I knew better, I couldn’t stop myself from asking him, “What happened to your hand?”

He looked down at the floor as he shifted from one side to the other, and mumbled, “Uhhh, I might have gotten into a fight last Saturday night at a bar.” Then he looked up expecting me to say something, but I had already decided not to. Jaime waited, and I turned and looked down at the papers on my desk as I started shuffling through them.

Jaime ended up earning a C in the class, and Gail earned a B. Both of them graduated from the retraining program with a Certificate of Proficiency, which was used by the county to help them obtain new jobs.

As for me, it was my only experience teaching a class. I hadn’t wanted to do it but felt obligated since I was in one of the junior college certificate programs. However, teaching turned out to be truly satisfying, and I felt quite a sense of accomplishment whenever I thought of Jaime and Gail. Their discussion about using a dictionary, which was magical to them, was very satisfying to see.

During the class, Jaime made a transformation into a genuinely curious young man who was eager to learn. I had no doubt he would succeed in the future. But when I thought of him, I also wondered how he could have gone through the K-12 education system in our state and ended up in his twenties without knowing what a dictionary was.

Something doesn’t add up. Who taught Jaime in high school? Why was he promoted to higher level classes and eventually allowed to graduate with such a hole in his basic education? What else was missing in his schooling? Why hadn’t anyone noticed?

I had many questions that were not likely to be answered, but they made me wonder who was looking out for these young people. If not the education system, then who? Parents? Churches?

Also, to my disappointment, I later found out that one of my students who received a D because she didn’t come to class, participate in discussions, pass any tests with a reasonable understanding of what was taught, and was generally a troublemaker, had also graduated. It was clear to me that she had only been there to get by, not to learn anything useful. I knew the D might keep her from graduating, but I thought the college would give her a remedial class and eventually award her a certificate.

However, much to my surprise, the administration at the school fudged her grades (not just the one I gave her) and allowed her to graduate from the retraining program. I recognized it as a typical education system administrative manipulation … if you can’t work with them, move them on.

After gaining my computer programming certificate, I never went back to that place.