Hicks - Roots of apathy : understanding the underworld where struggling students think, feel and live

Roots of

Apathy

Understanding the underworld
where struggling students think,
feel and live.

Michael R. Hicks

Roots of Apathy

By Michael R. Hicks

Copyright

EDITED BY

Ron Hicks

Rosanne Hicks

Katie Gerbasy

ISBN-13: 978-1495270048

Create Space

COVER DESIGN

Artwork (boy under tree): Brian Stanton

Layout: Ovi Dogar (www.absolutecovers.com)

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without the written permission from the producer.

Acknowledgements

There are a lot of people I would like to thank who contributed to the long and laborious process of writing this book.

First and foremost, my wife and best friend Carmel, who gave me time and space to be a writing hermit. Thank you for all your patience and support!

Brian Stanton, who captured the essence of Roots of Apathy in the cover design. Thank you Brian for all the time you spent changing and adjusting the picture. You took an idea and created an incredible image.

Dan Hicks, my friend and brother, whose knowledge as a professional counselor helped me understand the roots of student apathy. Thank you for our many conversations and for your insights.

Ron and Rosanna Hicks, my amazing parents, whove help so many struggling young people over the years on their ranch in Oregon. Thank you for reading through all the unedited versions of this project and for your helpful suggestions and advice.

To the hundreds of students over the years who have shared their stories. Thank you for all that you have taught me. Your experiences have helped me understand how struggling students think and feel.

On the Inside

I know it looks like

I dont care about school.
But what you see on my outside,
is me just trying to cope
with what you dont see
on my inside.

Ive got problems
and they feel so heavy

I cant carry anything else
not even school.

Contents

Introduction

A Book about Roots

Ive had the distinct pleasure of being present when all four of my beautiful children were born. The first one scared the heck out of me. The rest I was prepared for. I'm struck with how much writing a book can be like a mother bringing children into the world. The babies grow inside for a while; sometimes a long while, but eventually they begin to make the mother uncomfortable. One day she realizes, Ive got to do this! Ive got to go through the labor and get this thing out. I know Im a guy and cant really relate, but Im thinking that writing a book for the first time is a lot like having that first child. I wonder, will it come out right? Will it be of any interest or value? What if others have felt, and thought, the same things before me and have already written my child? I almost hesitate to do research for fear the child will somehow become illegitimate; a genetic hybrid with traits spliced in from all sorts of donors. Is that ok? Can a writer do that? Can I steal the ideas of others and then merge them with my own? Im reminded of the ancient Jewish proverb, There is nothing new under the sun.

I have my own version of Solomons wisdom:

I have never thunk a thought

That someone hasnt thunk before

And when I think Ive thunk it all

Someone else will thunk of more.

As adults who work with teenagers I suspect our most useful ideas have been borne out of personal experiences and then fleshed out through many honest conversations. We share our thoughts and stories and listen to others share theirs. Along the way we grow and change. When we reflect on what weve learned over the years we become acutely aware of something profound: our best insights have already been discovered by others before us. We might think weve stumbled upon something new, but in reality its probably been there all alongjust forgotten. Ive come to believe the most effective strategies for motivating apathetic teenagers must be revisited and stirred up again from time to time. As you read the pages that follow you might get the distinct feeling that theres really nothing novel here, but only truth thats been lying dormant. If that be the case and Roots of Apathy awakens something of value from its forgotten slumber, then I will have achieved my goal. As an educator, I have been working with kids for a number of years. Both successes and failures as a teacher, coach and parent have been the hammer and anvil that have shaped the ideas in this book. Currently, I spend half my day teaching Biology and the other half working with at risk students who are behind in credits and in danger of not graduating. The ideas here were born out of an effort to help those in trouble academically. What Ive discovered along the way has been eye-opening and, at the same time, rejuvenating.

Over the years I have seen many intervention programs that provide academic support, but unfortunately, they often fall desperately short. Educators have a propensity to address symptoms rather than core issues. Providing homework help, for example, may not be very helpful when the home itself is broken and in chaos. Perhaps Im stating the obvious, but apathy has roots.

This is a book about those roots!

If to feel properly in-serviced you must have a lot of pedagogical jargon tossed to and fro I suggest you pick up something else to read. Roots of Apathy is not intended to be a research-based work with lots of data and lengthy quotes from various experts in the field of education. Instead I hope you find this book an easy read; something inspirational and read for pleasure. By using original stories, penned in the vernacular of teenagers themselves, we will peer into the real, and sometimes raw world, where struggling students live. Their writings provide us with a clear perspective of what its like to be teenagers striving to make their way through life in the midst of storms, stresses and sometimes unbearable pressures. Their stories, articulated as only teenagers can do, are powerful testimonies of how they think and feel. They help us remember our own journeys through those tumultuous years.

I also hope to stimulate some dialogue between adults; to get them talking and sharing ideas about how to understand and help the young souls who have given up on school. Some of the best ideas are not going to be included in this book. Why? Because I havent thought of them yetbut maybe you have. As you read my insights and ideasyoull have your own. As I share stories that kids have written, youll recall dozens of stories from your own classroom. I hope youll take a few ideas from these pages, add them to your own, and in the end, get better at what you already do.

So this is my progeny. Im not sure if its the right time or that I wont think someday that I should have waited. I suspect that before the manuscript goes to print Ill think of something else I wish I would have written, but it will be too late. Never-the-less, I humbly offer my best insights and discoveries to the special people among us who work with the strange and wonderful creatures we call teenagers. This is a book for them; for the teachers, counselors, coaches and youth workers who have rolled up their sleeves and joined the campaign to make a difference. Its not an easy mission. The root causes that draw a student into the fog of apathy, are not well understood. We can say with relative certainty however, that when we try to unravel the tangled system of roots that choke motivation, we become keenly aware of a sobering realityits complicated!