Teachers. What's something a student of yours has said that made you lose hope for them?

Principal at an inner city high school. I had to sit down with a student who had been caught

plagiarizing for a second time. This time, from the onion. I had a student use the onion as a source.

Specifically this one. Barry Barnes took performance enhancing substances, reports everyone who has ever watched baseball.

Hey now, the inability to tell satire from news is a really popular style of idiocy these days.

There was this kid named Lawrence, who was one of those typical wallflower Catholic kids I grew up with.

His dad was in our scout troop as a leader and was really

meticulous. Like everything had to be just so. In the late 70s, most of the troop leaders had a

relaxed dress code. But Lawrence's dad dressed like a 1940s scouting manual model, complete with brown

uniform and wide-brimmed hat. Everything was pleated and pressed. His dad drove an old M.G. Roadster

that was constantly breaking down. They were upper class and his mum was not in the picture.

But the way Lawrence's dad picked on him was brutal. Stand up straight, Lawrence. Chin up.

Be a good lad. Chest out. Chin up. Lawrence, don't go over there. It's dirty over there. Lawrence,

stand straight and tall when I address you. Don't be rude. Wait until I've started eating before you

start. Lawrence, do I have to raise my voice, Lawrence? By high school, Lawrence just gave up.

He wasn't perfect enough, so why bother? He stared into space, he attended school in person only, just a

blank and hollow shell. His clothing didn't change. It only became dirtier. His hair got long. He

lost weight, and his clothes just hung on him. I think the only way to deal with his dad's

control issues was passive resistance. By his senior year in high school, he flunked out. Not sure what happened

to him after that. High school teacher here. Dude, if you don't start coming to class and doing the work,

you'll fail out of school. School's done nothing for me. I'm going to rap to pay the bills, bro.

Kid was an awful musician. Couldn't make a beat, couldn't write a rhyme to save his life.

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