This was unexpected

Friday, I was in the middle of a class with my ninth-grade students about how our actions need to match the messages we preach.

There was a knock on the door. (It’s not much of a door. More of a gate.)

Two women were standing in the doorway, one of them was holding a baby.

Now, it’s not uncommon for people in the high schools here to interrupt a teacher in mid-sentence. But normally, it is the high school inspector or another student who needs to talk to one of the students.

I didn’t recognize these people, so I went over to ask them what they wanted. Here is how I think the dialogue translated:

Ian: Good afternoon. What do you want?

Woman in doorway: We want to collaborate.

Ian: Well, I’m kind of in the middle of teaching a class right now. We can talk about this later.

Woman in doorway: We have the permission of the inspector.

Ian: Well, I’m kind of in the middle of a lesson right now.

Woman in doorway: The inspector said we could enter.

Ian, wanting a clarification, told his students to wait a second and went to the director.

Ian: These women say they want to collaborate with me and then asked to walk into my class. What’s the deal?

Inspector: Let them in.

So, I let the women into my class. They give a brief shpiel (I was still coming back from my conversation with the inspector when this was happening, so I don’t really know the content.)

The next thing I notice, they are walking through the class begging my students for money.

Yes, that is right. Panhandling in the classroom.

Maybe I didn’t understand the verb correctly, or maybe the verb “colaborar” means something different than what I think it does.

But this was clearly an experience that I would never expect in an American high school and a clear example of cultural differences.

I wish the woman and child would have stayed and listened to my lesson for the day.

“What kind of world do you want to live in?” as the opening question, followed by “What are you doing to make this world a reality?”

That was followed by a discussion about how our ideals, values, goals, and messages should be followed by actions, because, all too often in society, they are not.

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On the subject of what kind of world we want to live in, I will share with you some of the better responses.

Obviously, a lot of peoples aid they wanted to live in a safe, healthy world, without contamination, violence, or the risk of dying at any moment.

The better responses were the kid who wanted to live in an electronic world, along the lines of Wall-E, and the kid who wanted to party all the time, asking for the local disco to be open seven days a week.

I asked them how they were trying to make this a reality. The girl who wants to live in an electronic world said she was going to stay up to date on electronics news.

The party animal had no good answer. If he’s serious about this, he should stand outside the disco or in some central location in town and promote the idea of party all the time.

I told them that I wanted to live in a world with equal opportunity, where your situation at birth shouldn’t dictate your lot in life, and that people treat their fellow human beings like brothers.

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I miss the panhandlers of Ann Arbor — beggars with a shtick.

There are no harmonica-playing guys here, no local equivalent of Shakey Jake (Templando Jacobo), they only tell you to have a blessed day if you give them money, and there is no “nickel to buy a sandwich guy” (even though a nickel could actually buy you a sandwich).