One thing that had really scared me about officially moving to Memphis was the prospect of my child being enrolled in a school that is a part of such a renowned school system. I get a little miffed at those who just blindly offer that the Memphis City School system isn’t “that bad” because it is that bad. Education is a joke to Memphis City if you are only looking at it from what comes across the news. School performance scores are not the indicator. More often than not, it is public opinion that either damns or lauds a school.
It may sound like I am trying to talk out of both sides of my mouth, but the truth is, Nathan is at one of the little exceptions to the general attitude of Memphis City Schools. When I tell people that my son goes to Snowden, I am met with a nod of approval. People get a knowing gleam and they holster their slurs in favor of a smile and appreciation. Is Snowden perfect? No, of course not, but in our short time here, we have had a lot of good experiences.
Nathan wanted to play football as soon as he knew there was the chance. Now, Nathan has never played, never really touched a ball, and only watched some games here and there. I was pretty convinced that he didn’t actually know the difference between offense and defense, between touchdowns and safetys, or rushing and passing. (These, I must tell you, are the limits of my own football knowledge…)
The first month or two of school, academics aside, was all about figuring it out. Luckily, I knew he would need cleats, but what about the pads? What about the equipment? What about the… you know… the thing… that thing? All I can say is that each day presented a new challenge and a new hurdle, and that was just me! Nathan, on the other hand, well, he reminded me every day that he is a good kid who I just never give credit to when I should.
He went to school every morning with his back pack and his bag of football clothes. He learned the combination for his lock, he kept up with his stuff, and he worked his butt off. I would pull up to practice and see my little guy out there. At first he was always the last one running, the last one picked, and the last one looking to be picked. He learned how to listen, how to run, how to hit, and how to take a hit. His clothes got loose, his bruises multiplied, and his attitude hardly ever faltered. He went to practice every day, somedays until 6 or 7, and everyday he went back for more.
He played just a few times, but during the last game of the season, Nathan got to play for about 28 minutes. He was on the field when his team scored, and he swears he will go back next year. This kid learned a lot, and I learned a lot about the kid. He broke my heart about a million times during the season. At every game I saw a kid who was happy to see me, but he just barely waved. He knew I was there, but he wanted to look cool in front of the guys. I know, I know, it’s what boys do. It still makes the mama’s heart hurt.
There is of course more to school that sports. Nathan jumped right into school work, and it wasn’t long until we started to see the differences between where we had been and where we were. Snowden had some pretty silly projects. I felt like I needed to buy poster board every week for some kind of map or poster project. Nathan was doing well, but he was working around learning how to be more responsible for his actions. There were some missed homework assignments, and a project that was due the day after a game that I thought might be the end of the easy run. But before too long we found a pattern, and it has been working well for a while now.
About 2 or 3 weeks into school, Nathan starts talking about a program called CLUE. This is the equivalent to a gifted program at most schools. Of course my child is smart, and of course he does well, but was he gifted? I expressed interest in finding out more, and that is when I learned more about the bureaucracy that is the Memphis City School System…
Long story short, Nathan got in! He had to take two tests, one of which was an IQ test, and I had to fill out a mountain of paper work, but it happened! The other day he came to my bedroom door as we were getting ready for school. He told me that he looked forward to going to school in a whole new way since he started CLUE. This of course made me very happy, but I suppose that is the next item on the list.
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