It’s standardized test week here, and I proctor the tests for 19 students in my 7th-grade homeroom. Each day, a different subject is tested. Today, there are two 40-minute reading tests.
As I look around the room, I get a chance to really look at each student. Some are deep in thought; others are plodding through, while still others have dashed their way through the test and are sitting waiting patiently or reading a book.
I would like to know what the future holds for each of them. Are future doctors, lawyers, or teachers sitting before me? Is the next great fashion designer, architect, or electrician in this room? At 13, do they have any ideas of what they might like to do for a job in the future? There may be a couple of budding attorneys with how some would like to negotiate!
What does the future hold for these students? I keep telling them that they are our future, that they can be change-makers, that they can use their voices for good. I hope they do.
Some people tell me I am naive or Pollyanna-like, but I am cautiously optimistic. Each generation has the power to work for change to make this world a better place. I am counting on great things from the group who sits before me today.
Rita DiCarne 
I remember having the same thoughts, Rita. It’s really fine for me to bump into the kids I taught at St. Alphonsus’ or when one of my children tells me, “Mom, I met __________. He/she said you taught him/her. So far, I’ve heard only good things.
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We have to believe in our students and teach them to make a difference!
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I taught long enough (and you probably have, too) to see students grow up and surprise us with what their future holds. We think we see it in their youth, and then Voila! they end up going a different direction, achieving great heights, or sometimes, not. But I hope you will continue being Pollyanna (I have been called that, too) and help each one reach their potential – the promise of what neither you nor they can see just yet, but it will come.
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Rita,
This reminds me of having the same concerns during my teaching days. Certainly, these young people are entering a world vastly different from the one my generation faced. I hope they hold onto idealism and hope and work for the forces of goodness and kindness.
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