GenHillOne
A lot of different issues are tangled up in this thread! What is most disturbing to me about the original poster, and actually not the first post, but content in the subsequent follow-up, is the lack of compassion – elitist, judgmental, naiveté, whatever you want to call it. I’m not a social service or teaching professional (tipping my hat to you), but it seems like there is always something going on under the surface with students who are struggling. With anyone really; haven’t we all met the egomaniacal jerk who is really compensating for his/her own insecurities?
My 6th grader (at the time) had an assignment to interview classmates and then present introductions. In this one classroom, there were parents in prison, siblings who had been shot, and clear tales of struggles to make ends meet. It prompted an immediate discussion at home about the real world, one that has continued to this day. These situations don’t mean one is doomed to failure, of course, but they certainly can complicate things.
Whether it’s the office egomaniac, the classmate making poor choices, or the lady living out of her shopping cart, there’s more to it than what can be seen on the surface. If Caduceus is for real, and not just taking us all for a ride, I’m going to believe that there are contributing experiential factors there as well. I’m going to try to practice compassion for what may be under the surface and for what, potentially painful, realizations may be coming down the road.