Going Back to High School

I forgot how endearing and gross teenage boys can be. And how beautiful teenage girls can be. I remembered in a hurry last week when I started volunteering at the front desk of my local high school. I wanted to do some community service and take a little break from retirees. I got more than a little break. I got a whole new world--one that moves at breakneck speed. I was so worn out after four hours that I collapsed on my couch with my little dog when I got home.

The Attendance Secretary--who handles students who are tardy, injured, or sick--was on vacation. All those kids came to the front office. At one point, one boy was throwing up in a trash can in a corner, and another one tilted his head back in a chair, trying to stem a nosebleed. Between dramatic bouts of their respective ills, the boys chatted with the girl who was being suspended for fighting. They stole glances at the pretty student aids, who pretended not to notice. Parents came to drop off or pick up their kids. School supply salespeople asked to see the Principal. Students asked to see the Counselor.

I filed packing slips by department without knowing the names of the departments or the items on the slips ("1 regenerator." "4 domes." "1 streak plate.") I filed them in a cardboard box in used file folders because California schools don't have enough money to operate. (If they did, they'd hire someone at the front desk and wouldn't need me. Then I'd miss all this fun.) I removed rubber bands from obsolete rolled-up posters so we could use them again.

My newspaper says the state is going to ask teachers to take a 1% pay cut. Who knows what they'll take from the administrative staff. (Maybe the boxes of carefully hoarded used rubber bands?) The TV news said the Governor wants more money for his office. I said a few choice words when I heard that (we old folk tend to talk to ourselves.) He should volunteer at a school, then he'd know where the money would be best spent.

To be fair, the TV reporters probably took the Governor's request out of context. But there is no other context for what's happening at the schools. There, heroic people perform a mammoth job with inadequate resources--daily.

I'm going back, two days a week. It's a drop in the bucket compared to what they need. But I'm tired of being catered to and entertained (I'm not good retirement material. ) I want to do something. Something useful.

I think it's safe to say I found it.