Super-Normal

"Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted."
- from the Bhagavad Gita
. . . inscription on Sylvia Plath's tombstone in Heptonstall, Yorkshire in England

"...when Sylvia was seventeen and a senior in high school, she had mastered the art of achievement so well that she herself was deceived into believing she was super-normal."
- Anne Stevenson, from Bitter Fame: A Life of Sylvia Plath - (c) 1989

Do any kids today believe they are "super-normal"?

If only there were more high school students like this today in the public schools--those that are creative and unique, who possess a genuine interest and respect for learning.

I spent Tuesday teaching 9th and 10th grade Science as a substitute teacher. During my free period, I went to the library to ask the librarian if there was anything I could help with. (Though I would have rather found a quite place to read, my classroom was used by another teacher during that time and I wanted to show I was a "helpful sub".) As I put away stray books and tidied up the shelves, I was saddened to see what poor condition the books were in. Most seemed fairly well-used, with cracked corners on the spine. Yellowed pages and out-of-date covers. I suppose the condition is indicative of the general lack of consideration that students take when checking out books, but the books in these non-fiction shelves were generally not the latest, most interesting books. I remember how I've seen HS kids treat their library books, and it was mostly while they were in the library because the non-Honors kids didn't want to check out books. Mostly because they figured they would lose them and didn't want to have to pay the fine (which eventually caught up with the kids because they wouldn't be able to receive their transcripts if transferring schools or their diplomas upon graduating).