I don't get paid enough to care

The 7th graders today were prepping for their No Child Left Behind tests, which are happening next week. I let them know that though I would not be there to test them and though this was just a practice for the test, this was serious and I wanted complete silence and wanted it to look like they were actually taking this stupid, ridiculous, wholly unnecessary test. So they quiet down and most get to work answering the 12 questions. I know I'm a math guy, and I kinda know a lot stuff, but it was still really easy. The first question was "What does r represent?" If any student didn't know that it was radius, I would want to kick them in the neck (I've never done this, for the record).

One girl in my 7th (of 8) hour (it's not as bad as it sounds; 3rd hour I had lunch duty and 5th and 6th hour were prep, so it was just my fourth class of the day) I guess found the test too stressful or something and walked out. She just got up and walked out of the classroom. I asked the student next to her where she was going, and she said, "Well, it's kind of hard to explain. She just does that sometimes and Ms. Normal Teacher usually just calls security." I was thinking, "Ain't nobody got time fo' dat!" and went outside to get her. I called to her, "Over Emotional Girl!"

She was crying in the arms of a friend, who I don't know, don't care to know, and why wasn't she in class? Friend mustered up the most attitude that she could and asked, "Can't you see she's crying?"

Read the title of this post.

I don't know if it was test anxiety or boyfriend problems or the realization that Harry Styles just doesn't know or care who she is. And frankly, I don't care. You don't get up in the middle of class--in the middle of a test--and leave.

Now, I might sound a bit harsh. But this girl, while she was in class, wasn't working, and when you get that enough, your sympathy level runs really low. I don't have the time, energy, or money to care for kids who don't care for their own grades. Especially when it's kids that I don't even know but for 50 minutes out of one day. It's not a good investment of my time.

So I tell Friend, "She's still can't just walk out of class." When Friend rolled her eyes, I could have called she-bears out of the woods to maul both of them, but I'm not that kind of a substitute. Some classmates grabbed Over Emotional Girl's stuff and took it to her, since this happened at the very end of class and the bell rang before she came back in. And that class was (praise the Lord!) over. I left a note for the teacher, like I do for every class. I wish I could be there to see the punishment that Over Emotional Girl got for this, but alas, that doesn't come with the job. I can only assume that Ms. Normal Teacher handled it well.

Until next time.

Class Dismissed!