Defender

Defender

The word champion can also be a verb, as in championing a cause, something you defend or stand up for. What will you champion this year? I will continue to champion the underdog, especially when I know there is unrecognized potential.

Most of us champion one cause or another. Some of us are more vocal or strident in our support for our special cause, while many of us silently support things others may never suspect. While championing a cause is sometimes passed down in a family, most of the time we develop our pet projects as we make our journey through life, observing inequalities and injustice we need to right.

Sometimes we defend those who aren’t able to defend themselves, and this kind of championing usually gets me into trouble. I step into many situations I should probably stay out of, and my wife usually advises me to stop; she’s usually right. We were in New York a couple of years ago, and when she stopped to photograph an amazing billboard, it pushed the crazy lady on the street to the limit.

As a New Yorker, she had probably had it with tourists stopping in the middle of the street to take photographs while she was on her way to her personality improvement class. She lost it, and started shouting at my wife. “Go home”, she demanded, and for some reason, I started yelling right back. “No, you go home”, I said, which was stupid, because she probably lived in New York. She yelled “Shut up”, and with all of the creativity I could muster, I shouted back, “No, you shut up.” Pretty original.

She started mumbling something, and I refused to back down. By this time a crowd had gathered, and was intently watching the two New York crazies. Well, I did my best even though I was from Utah. I shouted something like “Go away, nobody is listening to you,” which wasn’t really true, but again, when you are shouting at someone on the street, no one expects you to be brilliant.

By this time my wife had intervened, and wanted me to move along. It was good advice. But defending my wife isn’t the only person I like to defend. When I first became a teacher, I was amazed at the lack of faith most parents have in their own children. I found out I had to be the defender, and help them understand the potential of their own kids.

I need to explain about the classes I teach. At this time it was a Basic English class, and it wasn’t too hard to pass my class. I had several special needs students, who were excused from doing some of the work, but many of them were able to complete assignments as well as regular students.

One particular student was missing several assignments, and I was having a parent conference with her father. We discussed the assignments she was missing, and the fact that her grade at that time was an “F”. I was a brand new teacher, not used to the pessimism of some parents. I was flabbergasted when he announced, in front of her, that she was “too stupid to be in my class”. He continued by explaining how she couldn’t do this kind of work, and that is was his opinion she needed another class.

To say I was stunned is an understatement, and for a moment I was speechless.

But then I smiled at my student and turned to defend her against the onslaught of her father. I told him she was doing very well on the other assignments she had completed. I also told him if she made up the missing work, she would pass the class. I even assured him she would probably get an “A” or a “B”. He was momentarily stunned, but then began to insist there was no way she could succeed. I calmly and coolly insisted I had faith in her, and would make sure she made up the work. I stood to rise, and left the conference.

It was an amazing, dumbfounding, incredible thing to hear a parent call their own child “stupid”. I’m not the world’s best parent, but I don’t think I ever did that. If I did, I apologize. But my resolution to make sure this student passed my class was steeled. Maybe that was the plan, but I doubt it. He truly believed his daughter was too stupid to do the work, even after I assured him her other work was fine.

Again, my classes aren’t the world’s toughest, but my students learn. What she learned is I was her champion when no one else believed in her, and when she got a “B” in the class, no one was happier than me.

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