LOST

In a world where boys and girls dance with pink embellishments for no apparent reason.
I know a lot of people don't like Lost anymore, but I like it better and better. Ben is possibly my favorite character. Yep, crazy-creepy Ben. Not cute, popular, cry-baby Kate. Not handsome, heroic, tormented Jack. Not sexy, southern, flawed-but-good Sawyer. I like the dude who seems to always have a plan up his sleeve. Oh, and he walks weird.

So I'm always happy to watch a Ben-centered episode like "Dr. Linus" from this week. I was also pleasantly surprised at how some of the lines rang so loudly of an educational policy message. For example, this exchange:

Ben: Taking care of the kids, that's what's important!
Artz: Ok, you just keep dreaming.

My thoughts: Too bad people tend to fight excessively over the "how" part.

I don't know. I think if educators and policy makers just cut each other a little slack (or at least stop complaining about each other) more good teaching can get done.


And then there's this:

Ben: I have a doctorate in modern European history, and I'm babysitting burn-outs in detention.
Roger: Detention, huh?
Ben: The worst of it is, as I look out over the ingrates that I'm tasked with watching, I can't help thinking that maybe I'm more a loser than any of them.

My thoughts: Teaching is the most honorable profession? Sure, it can be. But it's difficult to remember the honorableness when one has to deal with red tape, leaking roofs, and students that call you a meffingc and then throw books across the room on a daily basis.


Plus this:

Ben: You're one of the brightest students I've ever had. I don't worry about your future at all.
Alex: Really?
Ben: Really. Now what can I do to help? I can write you a great recommendation letter.
Alex: No, I need someone who went there [Yale].

My thoughts: There are so many things going on here, I don't even know where to begin. Let's just say that many times, a teacher's ineffectiveness isn't because they don't teach well (when they do) or because they don't connect with the students (when they do, again), or any of the other things teachers are accused of. Many times, their ineffectiveness comes from non-recognition of the worth of their opinion.