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A refreshing visit to fifth grade
In the middle of all the economic turmoil in these troubled times, it’s kind of cool to find out that fifth-graders are still fifth-graders.
I spent part of Friday morning talking to a couple of classes at M.L. Hubbard Elementary. The school had invited a bunch folks from the community to come in and talk about their jobs on Career Day.
I tried to demonstrate to the students why newspapers try to talk to as many people as possible in order to represent a cross-section of opinions. To make my point, I asked a young man named Isiah Lynch to come up to the front of Ms. Bennett’s class and asked him some questions about what he wanted to be when he grew up.
A football player, he said, preferably a wide receiver. Among his favorite NFL stars are Terrell Owens and Tom Brady. (I found only one Green Bay Packers fan in either class … a shortcoming I’m sure will be corrected in middle school).
If I returned to the office to write a story about Career Day, I asked the class, would I be correct in saying that everyone in the fifth grade wants to grow up and play professional football?
There’s nothing like a loud a chorus of “NOs” to put a newspaper editor in his place. So, I asked other students about their career plans. Here are a few highlights (and my way of saying “hi” to some of the kids I met):
Courtney Craddock wants to be a professional horse rider. She loves the feel of the wind in her hair, she told me.
Lindsey Norfleet wants to play basketball. His favorite team is the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hope he saw the LeBron James piece on “60 Minutes” Sunday.
Over in Ms. Mercer’s class, Darrien Smith wants to be a car designer. His favorite model is the Porsche Carrera. Nice ride, Darrien.
Britany Alston wants to be a singer. Beyonce is her favorite artist.
Jake Weaver wants to be a historian. His favorite period of history is the Revolutionary War. Jake says he got the bug from his dad.
Ryan Black wants to join the FBI or serve in the military. Good for Ryan.
The funny thing I thought about as I drove to the office is that fifth-graders really haven’t changed much in the mumble-mumble years since I was 10 or 11. Kids still want to be cops and ball players and ride horses.
With everything else going on in this crazy world, I found that kind of refreshing. To the good folks at Hubbard Elementary, thanks for letting me visit.
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