Feeling Dishonored

(It is our first day in honors US History class. The teacher hands out the books and paperwork and gives a brief introduction.)

Teacher: *following introduction* “And since this is an honors class, we should start learning post haste. Therefore, we are going to start reading chapter one out loud today.”

(She picks a student to read. He looks terrified, starts reading, then stops and looks up at the teacher for help with a two syllable word. He reads a couple more sentences and then the teacher moves on to several repeat performances. At the end of a one hour class, we have read a page and a half and the words “Constitution,” “Revolution,” and “Abraham Lincoln” had been tripped over. I am furious. After class, I wait until the other kids leave and hand my book back to the teacher.)

Me: “I’m sorry, but is there another honors class?”

Teacher: “What? No, I’m the only one this year.”

Me: “Then is there a class above honors?”

Teacher: “What makes you want to leave my class on the first day?”

Me: “I just feel like I should probably be in a class where the other students can read the word constitution without needing assistance…”

(The teacher, who it turned out had heard about me from last year’s teacher and was looking forward to teaching me, was disappointed, but spearheaded the paperwork to have me transferred into AP US History, listing as a reason ‘because the students in that class can probably read.’)