A "D Minus"
I remember my Landon Junior High School seventh grade math
teacher's name very well. It was "Mr Young" and he stood out
because the kids use to make fun of him because he was missing one
of his fingers and always pointed at students with his middle
finger.
I was not very good in school anyway and English and Math were my
worst two subjects. There was just something wrong with me, inside
my head and no matter how hard I tried I just could not figure out
why I could not understand what all the other kids found so easy to
learn. I don't think that there was ever a day that I went to
school that I was not afraid and scared.
One day I was told by Mrs. Winters, the head matron of the
Children's Home Society Orphanage that if I got one more "E" on my
report card that I would be taken to the Juvenile Court in
down town Jacksonville, Florida and that she would tell the judge
to send me away to the big prison for kids.
I tried real hard for weeks and weeks to learn how to multiply and
do fractions and compound things. But I just couldn't understand
how to make different parts of numbers into whole things. I really
tried too, but my brain just couldn't do it no matter how hard I
tried.
The day before report cards were to come out I knew that Mr. Young
would give me an "E" grade just like he always did, because no
matter how hard I tried I just could not understand anything that
he talked about in math class.
After class ended I went up to Mr. Young and I told him that the
orphanage was going to send me to the big prison if I got another
"E" grade on my report card. He told me that there was nothing that
he could do because that would be unfair to all the other kids if
he gave me a better grade than I had actually earned.
I smiled at him, turned and walked towards the door and then I
stopped. I turned around, looked at Mr Young and I said "Mr. Young
you know how all the kids make fun of you because your missing your
finger?" He just looked at me, moved his mouth to one side like he
was biting the inside of his gum and he did not say a word. "They
shouldn't do that to you because you can't help not having a finger
Mr. Young. Just like I can't help not being able to learn numbers
and stuff like that", I said. He said not a word as he looked down
at his desk and began grading papers.
The next day when I got my report card I tucked it into my school
book and on the school bus I opened the report card envelope and I
looked at my grades which read: Geography "B+", Mechanical Drawing
"C-", English "D-", History "C-", Gym "B+", Art "C", Math
"D-".
That "D-" math grade was the most favorite grade that I ever
received in my whole entire life. Not because I didn't get sent to
the big prison for kids. It was because I knew that someone in the
world finally understood what it was like for me to be missing a
finger inside my head.
AUTHOR, Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.
"Orphan"
"The Sad Orphan"
"Chicken Soup for the Soul"
"Heartwarmers4u Magazine"
ToTheHeart Magazine"
Heartwarmers Books Series"
Best of Athens Award, YAHOO
Pride of the Pantheon Award, Geocities
THANK YOU MR. YOUNG, Roger
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Roger Dean Kiser, Sr.