Upward Bound 2009 (or, “How I spent my summer vacation”)
June 28th, 2009Today the students moved in, officially starting the summer at Upward Bound.
This is year two for me, and though nothing is quite as new as it was last year, I still feel like I approach everything with a fresh-eyed wonder. To some extent, this is because every year is different—always a host of new faces, and at least some new classes as well. It’s an incredibly tight, incredibly friendly group of people that come together once a year, and then breaks apart, reforms… and what has changed?
There’s always something.
But teaching at Upward Bound is a little different than teaching anywhere else. One of the key program elements is the concept of “Full Value” and it’s the best (and hardest!) element. In short (and this does no justice at all to the concept) everyone is valued equally, and there is no disrespecting anyone’s value—even in jest, even oneself.¹
It’s a far cry from the usual school year, where casual disrespect is sort of normal. Kids pick at each other—and more often—endlessly, and it’s pretty common from adults as well. It’s nearly impossible to always resist the sarcastic comment, or the self-depreciating one; both are common and almost lauded in our society: How many television shows are based around how witty one can be to everyone around?
Upward Bound isn’t like that, and in many ways, it’s a better world—a six week program where nobody gets to be mean to anyone else, where everyone has friends, where everyone is valued just for being who they are. It’s the only place I’ve ever been that comes close to creating that environment (and it’s hard, and it requires a great deal of work, and the people involved are amazing and dedicated and can’t be praised enough) and it’s nearly impossible to forget.
It’s also probably why, despite how difficult it is to live in a world where we’re all required to be better than we normally are, so many adults and so many kids come back again and again. Yes, the academics matter, and they’re rigorous, and the kids do a tremendous amount of work—but the real key, the real draw, is how people treat one another.
Something for me to keep in mind the rest of the school year.
1 I remember last year introducing myself and saying something along the lines of “And you’re all very fortunate that I’m the live-out teacher—you won’t ned to put up with me all the time.” Erk Full value violation. I’ll probably have a few this summer as well—my sarcasm gets me into a great deal of trouble. ↺
