Eating That Whale

One Size Can Fit All

I believe I was called to teach because I can’t imagine my life without doing so. On my most frustrating days when students have shoved me, cussed at me and each other, refused to put phones away, fought outside of my classroom, and just displayed a lack of desire to learn my question is not “Why do I do this?”, but rather “How should I do this?” Yes, I get through the day and yes, many students enjoy my class, and with a resounding yes, 98% of my students know I care about them and their ability to thrive (I care about all of them; the 2% just don’t know it). But that’s not enough. I started this blog because I’ve concluded that I cannot provide a completely positive academic experience for students without help from home. I strive to be a W.O.R.T.H.Y. teacher; I want your daughters to be W.O.R.T.H.Y. students; and I would like moms, dads, and guardians to be W.O.R.T.H.Y. overseers of their daughters’ education. There’s much debate surrounding this topic but that’s a blog for a whole ‘nuther’ day.

My W.O.R.T.H.Y. principal works for everyone, but I am so enthusiastic about our girls. I was a middle school girl, and I, as well as my mom and daughters, have weathered many middle school years of girls. Hindsight allows me to see that our academic successes were the result of what I have coined The W.O.R.T.H.Y Principle. Likewise, our deviation from the principle is quite clear through our failures.

Alpha Babies 

Our girls have a lot to contend with on their academic journey.  

When I talk to my girls today, they are astonished to hear that when I was their age, women needed men to co-sign for their credit; and the opportunity for Tomboys like me to play on my school’s basketball team was nonexistent. They shake their heads and wonder how I made it.  iGens and Alphas do take some liberties for granted but as a baby boomer I’m oftentimes oblivious to how much technology has influenced their lives. As a middle schooler the roles and goals ahead of me were limited and clear: there were jobs I couldn’t have, and places where I couldn’t live, but if I got good grades, finished college, and found a white-collar job life would be swell.

Not so with our Alpha babies. Professor Joe Nellis of Cranfield University (United Kingdom) predicts that children born since 2010 “will be something else”. He reports that Alphas, because of their fundamental relationship with IT, will as adults “have more choices of work, but they will be tougher to keep motivated and challenged”.

He ended his piece by saying that it will be challenging for Alphas to “be adaptable, open to learning and re-learning, dealing with risk, resilience, and the importance of communities and social interactions “. These are the soft skills which employers desperately look for and the number of prospects entering the workforce who have these skills are dwindling.

Preparing our girls to thrive as adults is a daunting task. But it goes back to answering the proverbial question of how one eats that whale. If we all take a bite and share the responsibility of devouring this soft skills beast, I believe the bones will be clean by the time our alphas report to work.

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