HW 48 - Treatment for savior/treatment

possible title: "credentials"

introduction: The newest teacher tries to engage doubted students to higher levels of curriculum in order to prove other teachers wrong, including the students themselves. After what seemed to be an impossible gesture of reaching out to the kids, only until the teacher's unanticipated move of not giving the students up for something they did, do they come to the realization that he is someone worth trusting.

Jason Scheffer, a middle-aged man with a passion for teaching, enrolls himself into one of the not-so finest schools of New York. With his first day there consisting of hateful remarks made by the teachers about the kids, his first day meeting the students ended exactly how the other teachers painted it for him. With a class full of smart-mouthed kids with no respect or expectations for themselves, his approach to reaching them became, while being rejected from the start, bleaker and bleaker. Only until a conflict between the students and Mr. Scheffer arise where they are caught with drugs and the actions set by Scheffer of not turning them in do they see a glimmer of trustworthyness within him.

Seeing a single chance at grabbing the kids attention, while still having earned an ounce of their trust, was snatched by him instantly, where a discussion with the kids in the class (mostly adressing the boys) about gang-violence and tough-guy personas leads to him throwing out a random quote in hopes of catching the students attention. "You can take the dog out of the fight, but you cant take the fight out of the dog." After liking what is heard the group of students ask who said this, and after responding to them Mark Twain, does he decide to continue speaking of Mark Twain and other words of wisdom shared by him. Taking a higher interest in the author and his writing the teacher decides to move onto actual literature, exposing to them the story of Huckleberry Finn. While reading on the students use Mark Twains writing to connect to their own lives of Huckleberry Finn, where they see him only as a troublemaker with higher hopes for himself, just like themselves seen by the teacher.

Being surrounded by a few kids of the whole slowly expose to him the highly troubled lives they lead. A boy with the conflict of having to choose between money and his pregnant girlfriend or a H.S. diploma, and a girl who's mother's repetitive drunken state pushes her to where she must replace the single-mother duties that are not fullfilled for her two younger sisters in need of a decent home environment, thus leading to a slip in her attendance.

After a huge after-school conflict between the teacher and the pregnant boy, Mr. Scheffer confronts the boy's implyment of him not needing school anymore. In doing so, the teacher calls his bluff by simply giving him 65's for the rest of the year, so that he passes without even having earned it and so it can be a win-win. To the teacher's surprise, the boy shows back up to school a few days later even with the already passing grade to show that he wants more out of this. Showing his change to the teacher, leaving him with the thought that he has offcially reached out to these kids and also changed their ways.

After everything seemed to be perfect for Mr. Scheffer, and the kids as well, Mr. Scheffer is stripped of his teaching title over at the high school because of a late dicovery by the board of ed that Mr. Scheffer is an ex-convict. After being fired embarrassingly in front of all of his students, the kids end back in square one as their minds drift to the thought that Mr. Scheffer was only filling their minds with lies, how they can graduate become successful and get good jobs with their lives. With only a month and a half away from graduation, some on thin lines to graduating, meet a slump in which they end back at their original state not caring about their own education and such. Mr. Scheffer confronts the students in the streets one night, (partial amount of the kids, not entire class) about the fact that he was a convicted felon, but because he severely hurt an off-duty policeman for having found out he was sexually harassing one of his students. In an unfortunate timeline of events for Mr. Scheffer the policeman's higher power and word over his led to him being thrown in jail for a sentence of 2 years. While reaching out for forgiveness from his students, Mr. Scheffer wins back the hearts of his students. Still not allowed to teach them within the high school walls, does he begin to tutor them outside the school in order to complete their remaining High School time.