Ah, it’s that time again. Time to look at the moments that happen in the classroom both good and bad. This particular moment takes place during parent-teacher conferences.

Parent-Teacher Conferences are the two times of the year that the day truly never seems to end. We have to be at school around 7/7:30am and we don’t get to leave until 7/7:30pm if we’re lucky. Thankfully school security does a REALLY good job at kicking everyone out when conferences are over.

When you meet parents, most of the time you get a really good snapshot as to why your students are the way they are. Sometimes for good reasons, many times it really makes you realize that all the behaviors, comments, etc. are genetic. This one student and their parents really threw me for a loop.

This student was really just a middle of the road student. They could try all the live long day, but an 85 would have been the equivalent of getting A’s. It was really tough because on the days he did make it to class, he really put the effort in. I would do everything to pump this kid up and be his personal hype man, but getting him to wake up in time for class was a stretch. When his parents sat down, they were so sweet. They were from an Eastern European nation and had a good grasp at English, so communicating with them was not a challenge. Naturally, they want to know how their son is doing and what they can do to help. Being in a city school, many can attest that these types of parents are few and far between. (Most don’t want to hear from teachers).

Being that this was a class for 12th graders, I usually try to steer the conversation to post-high school plans. He student said he was hoping to go to college, but he hadn’t heard back yet. This was where the golden moment comes in. The father proceeds to tell me that college is the goal, but if college either does not work or his son does not do well in his first semester, there will be a job for him. GRAVE DIGGING.

Excuse me? I think I blacked out for a bit and imagined things. Did you just say GRAVE DIGGING??? When I could muster the words to ask for clarification, he affirmed that he would get a job for his son where he would work digging graves. He assured me that it was a good job for his son, since his son is a very active and physical person. I have never in my life ever recieved this as a possibility for a job when I asked students what they want to do as a career. The student acknowledged that it was different, but they made good money, especially out of high school.

I do not spend time looking up past students, especially students that I no longer have contact with. That’s just not my style, I don’t want to be a creeper. But I won’t lie that I haven’t thought about what this kid is up to. Every time I pass a cemetery, I can’t help but wonder if I’m going to run into this kid at my next funeral.

Every parent-teacher conference from there on out has yet to live up to the hype that was the grave digging fiasco. No parent has been able to shock and stun me like that day. I may have 30+ years to go, but I don’t know how anyone can top this.