School of Hard Knocks
Student: Mr. Kazzy, we need white chalk so we can mix it with the red to make pink.
Mr. Kazzy: We don’t have any white chalk.
Student: Why don’t you go to the store and buy more white chalk?
Mr. Kazzy: We can’t solve all our problems by going to the store. Sometimes we just have to make due with what we have.
Student: [grumble grumble grumble]
I can think of many reasons folk might applaud my response. I can also think of many reasons folks might decry it.
Let’s have at it!
A few minutes later, this exchange transpired with the same student:
Student: Why do we have to press so hard with the chalk? It’s annoying.
Mr. K: It will be harder to see the marks your making if you don’t press hard.
Student: It’s still annoying.
Mr. K: It sounds like you’re not having fun doing that activity. If that’s the case, you should go to another one so someone else can have a turn here.
Student: No. I like this!
Mr. K: Then I shouldn’t be hearing so much complaining.
I’m a jerk.Report
Student: Why don’t you go to the store and buy more white chalk?
Damon: Go buy the chalk yourself.Report
Student: But I’m not allowed to cross the street by myself!Report
Damon: That’s not my problem.Report
“You’re… what… five now? About time we fit you for some boot straps!”Report
Damn right. When I was your age i walked to school in the snow, uphill, both ways. And held a jobReport
But, Mr. Damon, that’s geometrically impossible!Report
“Who taught you ‘geometrically’?”Report
“I was going to say “topologically”, but then I remembered that “uphill” is only defined for orientable spaces. Can I go out and play now?”Report
One of my mother-in-laws statements when people her kids complained:
“Well, know you know what you don’t like.”
Used to drive me crazy, but over the nearly 40 years I’ve known her, I have to admit it’s grown on me.Report
Dude, I say that all the time!Report
Your kids sound exactly like an awful lot of the adults that I know (including myself sometime). I wonder if this is a new phenomenon or this is just one of my “get off my lawn” moments.
You should start a Twitter account and post things so people can guess whether it is something that a grade school kid said or something that an adult posted on Facebook.Report
I bet the grownups complain a lot more, and about less interesting stuff.
No ability to make pink? That’s interesting. Chalk get’s my hands dirty? Not so much.Report
I didn’t so much mind the child expressing frustration about what felt like an artificial constraint on his creative and artistic processes. In fact, I’m glad that he took steps to pursue a vision he had. I just found it noteworthy that his first solution seemed to be that I should just go buy some.
But I do like @j-r ‘s idea. A lot.Report
You should start a Twitter account and post things so people can guess whether it is something that a grade school kid said or something that an adult posted on Facebook.
That’s goddamn *brilliant*.Report
@kidornotkidReport
@kidordikReport
lol… that’s perfect.Report
Typical liberal teacher, teaching the kids they’re better off with chalks of color than with white chalk.Report
Heh… I was wondering if someone would carve out that angle.Report
I can also think of many reasons folks might decry it.
My objection is the “make due”.Report
@vikram-bath
Because it presumes no other alternative?Report
Because it isn’t “make do”.Report
I assume you meant is make do. :-pReport
Mr Kazzy, how do you feel about your favorite NFL team re-signing your favorite racist?Report
I’m just surprised that you students know that white and read make pink. Aren’t they Pre-K?Report
What do you think they’re paying me for???Report
Isn’t that normal? I feel like I knew that stuff coming into kindergarten. Probably from Sesame Street or something. Or Play-Doh.Report
I think I knew my color words in pre-K, but the idea of mixing colors to get different colors was something I was taught in Kindergarten.
If you knew that red and white make pink before Kindergarten, it might have been from sesame street, but I’ll bet it wasn’t from play-doh. Because white play-doh is pretty rare. And as far as color mixing more generally, mixing two different colors of play-doh tends to create a lumpy brownish color rather than the color you’d expect to get from an elementary school understanding of the color wheel.Report
The 3’s teacher does a unit on color mixing, so many of my kids come with the basics in place. I take a more organic approach, giving them different materials to explore with and allowing them to make their own discoveries. I think it is more rewarding for them that way. I usually start with the primaries but eventually add white and black. If they didn’t’ already know how to make pink, they usually discover it. That’s a pretty momentous day in the classroom because the other tints and shades aren’t typically recognized as their own color. White and blue make light blue. Green and black make dark green. But white and red? Now you’ve got pink… which can be a much coveted color among the children.
With regards to play dough, I don’t know about the store bought stuff, but you can do some basic color mixing with the homemade dough (I’ve got a recipe if anyone wants). It takes a lot of work but if you get a good batch of blue and a good batch of yellow, you can make green. It won’t *pop* but you can get there over several sessions.Report
I’m disappointed that you didn’t even hint that you would be willing to accept a bribe to go buy chalk.Report