Graychalk.com | Misplaced Pieces
My Student Wants a Human Bank
Posted on Saturday, May 09, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Being that the majority of my students are around 4th to 7th graders, it’s inevitable that the topic of girlfriends and boyfriends would creep up (usually accompanied by giggles or sounds of retching, depending on who’s talking) and of course they’re always curious about my “boyfriend” status. I’ve had some hilarious conversations with my students in the past whenever they’ve discovered that I’m single. The one where Leo solemnly advised me to hurry up and find one before I’m too old still cracks me up. The latest one, however, takes the crown for the one that disturbed me most…
This time, it’s my 6th grade student, Shirley, who was curious about my relationship status. After I told her that I’m single, the conversation turned bizarre at best and went spiraling steadily downwards (in my mind at least). It kinda went like this:
Shirley: A boyfriend is gooood! I want a boyfriend.
Me: Oh really… is that so?
Shirley: Yes, I want a boyfriend because he can give me money and buy me everything I want!
Me: Um. What if he’s a horrible person or treats you really badly?
Shirley: It’s okay, I just want his money. I can always just find another boyfriend on the side to treat me better!
There’s more to that conversation of course, where I tried to make her see that money isn’t everything and can’t truly buy happiness, so on so forth. I failed miserably.
She quite cheerfully repeated in different ways that she wants a rich boyfriend and it doesn’t matter in the least if he has gazillions of outrageous flaws (I was getting desperate) or the worst personality in the world. I can’t decide if I’m more troubled by that or the fact that she has no qualms about finding an extra boyfriend on the side to fulfill any other extra needs the rich one can’t. And she’s in 6th grade no less.
Ugh. Shirley’s a sweet girl- she really is. I like her a lot… but goodness, what happened?
Welcome. Graychalk.com is a personal blog of Téa and mainly an attempt to gather all the misplaced pieces in her life.
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Thu, May 21, 2009 - My Student Wants a Human Bank
Sat, May 09, 2009 - Lost in Translation
Sun, May 03, 2009 - A Convenience Totally Wasted (On Me)
Tue, April 21, 2009 - The Aging Milestone
Tue, April 14, 2009