School, Morning, Bird

“Stop looking at the bird and look at the board” was all Kyle’s teacher would ever say when he looked out the window. The teacher just couldn’t stand that a bird would be more interesting than her lesson plan. Kyle was only 9, so Ms. Kudosky simply told herself she was older and wiser, thus she had the authority over any student, the authority to claim that she was equivalent to an otherworldly being. 33 years old versus 9, how could such a difference be worth respecting a child’s desires? How could superior knowledge ever allow a temporarily ignorant child to begin to come to false conclusions based on assumptions no more advanced than a caveperson?

Ms. Kudosky had to educate her students, to teach them the truth rather than personal and subjective feelings that are the strongest in the young. Kyle was the student most at risk, he refused to pay attention. It was Ms. Kudosky’s duty to prevent the production of an ignorant citizen of society. Birds being more interesting was simply unacceptable, the important facts to be learned on this Monday morning were those of ancient Greek society and the collapse of Athens. Kyle had to focus, lest he became one of those thousands of kids in college who cannot locate Mongolia on the map. Ms. Kudosky knew that she was the superior in the room, nothing going on in Kyle’s mind could be anything other than distraction. The teacher saw herself as a sheepherder, teaching her flock what was valuable important. Any egoistic desire would only end in overall harm towards all these little future citizens value to society. “Adults always knew best”, Ms. Kudosky told herself, reprimanding didn’t have to scare her sensitivity towards negating the values of a lost child.