Despite battling a 100 degree temperature, strep throat and cold over the past few days, I walked away inspired from a tournament that I judged at. I've lost count of the number of debate matches judged, but two rounds- the first and last one left an image in my head. A positive one, indeed.
Students from the technical college who are generally looked down upon as the outcasts of society. The ones who can't make it in academics and on paper that's why they end up there. Battling this all my life and fallen behind due to poor decisions of laughing now and having fun while everyone is hitting it hard with the books in my younger days, I totally empathize with these students. Having to live in the shadows and face stereotypes and negativity. Lots of them come from broken homes, living in the ghettos and never had the chance to succeed.
They walked into the room and exhibited signs of defeat even before the first speaker was up on the podium. Everything seemed just too familiar to them, the going through the same motion of negativity. They lost to the junior colleges by a huge margin, but when I spoke to them, they were determined to learn how to improve. I could see it from their body language. If only they were taught how to. If only they were not looked down upon and were given the chance. It's just another opponent. If you look at it in sports, the score before every game is zero even. If only they could see that there is always a chance at the start.
I gave them a few handouts which I use throughout all the classes that I teach at elementary school level and they were extremely grateful. Nobody is a failure at all. These students have won already. They did not believe it when I said to them that they're all winners for being able to go up and deliver a speech. It ain't easy for sure. Small milestones. Give these students a chance. They aren't goners cause they're in the dumping ground of schools.
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