Second grade, part 2

Not wanting to point out the students who were the obvious talkers Reese simply said, “But I wasn’t talking.”

“You are getting two marks by your name young lady. One for talking and the second for arguing with me.”

Reese looked at the kids she knew to be the ones talking and they quickly looked away. Opening her mouth to argue the girl beside her, to whom it appeared she was talking, pushed her upright with her elbow. Sitting upright in her chair she decided to not argue further and simply hung her head. Tears burned her eyes and she began to wonder why fighting tears always hurt then continued her handwriting work.

Running through the front door Reese felt a little shame for getting in trouble at school. Mom and dad did not look favorably on arguing with a teacher. But the injustice of getting in trouble for talking when she had been quiet fueled an outrage that couldn’t be kept hidden.

“Mom, I got in trouble in school today.”

Mom stopped folding laundry to l look at Reese, “What happened?”

Reese proceeded to tell the story. She was tempted to leave out the part about arguing but decided to be honest. After finishing her story with a seven year old’s version of Mrs. Sanderson’s ratty voice she looked at her mom for help.

Mom sat down and pulled Reese onto her lap.

“It is unfair that you got in trouble for talking when you weren’t talking. And as your mom, that makes me a little mad. But I have to remind you that you did two things you weren’t supposed to do today.”

“Two?”

“Yes two. You were leaning on two chair legs. I’m fairly certain that students aren’t supposed to be doing this, and if you hadn’t been doing this Mrs. Sanderson wouldn’t have thought you were talking. Secondly, you were disrespectful to the teacher. I don’t agree with her methods and I do wish you had another teacher but this is a great time for you to learn that you won’t always like your teachers, but you still have to respect them. You are still learning and are still safe at school. You will survive this year and have a better teacher next year.”