A Neon Green Pen

"She gave up!" (This said with quite a bit of glee.)

I went around the classroom giving each student a sheet of assignment questions and a blank page on which to do the work. (This was at the continuation high school. They don't bring paper.) As I moved up the row, I found work distributed to students who I had not gotten to yet. That's when I saw the boy handing off the 3rd set of pages I had given him to a neighboring student.

I asked him: "You're not going to do it?"

I suppose I should have pushed harder. But it was Friday. At the continuation high school. I might have gotten him to keep the papers on his desk eventually, but he wasn't going to do the work. So, I moved on.

He was astonished. (See: quote above.)

Another student explained he couldn't do the assignment because he had nothing to write with. I offered a pencil. (The students don't bring pens/pencils to school either.)

"I can't write with pencils. I need...uh...a neon green pen."

Uh huh. Because I might be able to procure a pen for him, but could I find a neon green one?

Well, at least he kept the assignment.

Later, I passed by his desk. He had a pen. A black one. And then when I collected the work, he had done some. Not all of it, but more than some of them. In black ink.

The strangest thing was that period was the group that turned in the most work.